secolo

Forms

secolo m (plural secoli)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin saeculum (“generation; lifetime; age; century”).^[2][3][4][1] In Christian Latin it also meant “mortal life, the world”, a calque of Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn, “lifetime, age”), which had itself taken this sense from a Hebrew word for “generation”; from it came saeculāris “pagan, lay”, the source of secolare.^[3][5][2] The Romance words of this type, such as French siècle and Spanish siglo, are learned too, but older or dialect forms such as Piedmontese sevol show a more popular development.^[3][6]

The Latin word comes from Proto-Italic *saitlom, and only Celtic has a sure cognate: Welsh hoedl and Breton hoazl “lifespan, age”.^[7][3][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *seh₂i-tlo- (“lifespan”) and connects it with Hittite išhai- (“to bind”) and Sanskrit स्यति (syáti, “binds”);^[7][1] Wiktionary explains the sense as the successive generations bound together in time.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Cielo d'Alcamo's contrasto (1231–1250), in the Christian sense “mortal, earthly life”.^[2] The sense “a hundred years” follows in Brunetto Latini (before 1294).^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Brunetto Latini also used secolo for worldly life as opposed to religious life (before 1294), and Dante for a period of history (before 1321).^[2] Boccaccio explained that “secolo, in its proper meaning, is a span of a hundred years, after the Roman usage” (‘Secolo’, secondo il suo proprio significato, è uno spazio di tempo di cento anni, secondo il romano uso).^[8] Old and dialect forms include seculo, segolo and siègolo.^[8][9]

The hyperbolic sense, a time that seems very long (è un secolo che…), is recorded in 1829.^[2] Phrases name an age by what marks it: il secolo dei lumi for the 18th century, and il male del secolo, tuberculosis in the 19th century and later cancer and AIDS.^[10][9][11] Italian also formed trasecolare (15th century), literally “to go out of the world”, hence “to be astonished”.^[3] Ladin took the word as sekolo.^[1]

Timeline

• 1231–1250 – Cielo d'Alcamo uses secolo for “mortal life”.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for “a hundred years” and for worldly life.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for a period of history.^[2]
• 15th century – Trasecolare is formed.^[3]
• 1680 – Secolarizzare is first recorded, after French séculariser.^[2]
• 1829 – The hyperbolic sense “a very long time” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A century, a period of a hundred years: Il ponte ha quasi due secoli.^[4][5][12]
2. With an ordinal: one of the centuries counted from the birth of Christ: il quinto secolo dopo Cristo.^[4][5]
3. (hyperbole) A very long time: Ci hai messo un secolo!^[4][5][11]
4. In the plural: a long, indefinite time: un'usanza che resiste da secoli.^[4][12]
5. An age, a period marked by a ruler, a culture or discoveries: il secolo dei grandi viaggi.^[4][12][11]
6. The age in which one lives: le mode del secolo.^[4][11]
7. Worldly life, lay life as opposed to religious life: lasciare il secolo.^[4][12]

Word family

• secolare
• secolarità
• secolarizzare
• secolarizzazione
• secolarmente
• trasecolare

Related words

• Latin saeculum
• French siècle

Usage notes

In dates secolo is abbreviated sec. or s..^[4][5] Sabatini–Coletti note that the 20th century strictly runs from 1901 to 2000, though it is usually taken as 1900–1999.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18
9. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
10. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse