seccagno

Forms

seccagno (feminine seccagna, masculine plural seccagni, feminine plural seccagne)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin siccāneus (“dry, of dry soil”), formed from siccus (“dry”) with the suffix -āneus, and so related to secco.^[2][3][1][4] The DEI finds the Latin word in Columella.^[5] The same word survives in the south, as Neapolitan secagna (“scorched land”) and Abruzzese and Calabrian siccagnu “dry”, and as Catalan secany (“dry branch”).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the word to 1516.^[7] The DEI and Prati find it in the 16th-century agricultural writers Soderini and Lauro, said of dry ground: Soderini's willows want wide spacing on watered land and closer spacing nei luoghi seccagni.^[5][8][9]

Semantic evolution

As a noun the word meant a shoal: GRADIT dates this sense to before 1527, in Machiavelli, who has the port of Livorno reach dentro al seccagno della Meloria.^[3][10] The feminine seccagna was used in the same way, by Ariosto among others.^[8][6] From there the adjective was also said of shallow water.^[10]

The adjective is now archaic or southern, but agriculture keeps it in coltura or coltivazione seccagna, a crop grown without irrigation.^[11][7][12]

Timeline

• 1516 – Zingarelli's date for the first record.^[7]
• Before 1527 – Machiavelli uses seccagno as a noun, “shoal”.^[3][10]
• 16th century – Soderini and Lauro use it of dry ground.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (archaic or regional) Very dry, arid, of ground: un campo seccagno.^{[3][12][13][7]}
2. (agriculture) Of a crop or cultivation, grown without irrigation: coltura seccagna.^[3][12][7]

Noun

1. (dated) A shoal, a shallow in the sea; a secca.^[3][10]

Word family

• seccagna

Related words

• secco
• secca
• Latin siccaneus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3436
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 903
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse