selvoso

Forms

selvoso (feminine selvosa, masculine plural selvosi, feminine plural selvose)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin silvōsus (“wooded”), formed on silva (“forest, wood”) with the suffix -ōsus.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Devoto sees the Latin word reshaped after selva.^[6] The older form silvoso kept the Latin vowel.^[4][7][8]

De Vaan finds no etymology for the Latin noun.^[9] Nocentini too finds no sure comparison for it.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the first record to the first half of the 14th century, and DELI cites Donato degli Albanzani, before 1411, for the sense “covered with woods”.^[3][10] Tommaseo quotes the Italian Uomini illustri of Petrarch: si ritraeva dal piano a' luoghi selvosi (“he withdrew from the plain to wooded places”).^[8]

Semantic evolution

The Latin-shaped silvoso was still used by Ariosto, who has the silvoso Apennin and the silvosa schiena of Mount Atlas, and Galileo wrote of the parti silvose of mountains, which look darker than the bare ones.^[8][11] Foscolo has islands col selvoso dorso (“with wooded backs”).^[8][11]

The figurative sense, thick like a forest, is first recorded before 1799 in Parini, of a beard: il selvoso mento of Achilles' tutor, the centaur.^[10][11] Monti used it of the sea at Aboukir bristling with ships' yards, and Bacchelli of eyebrows.^[11][12]

Timeline

• First half of the 14th century – The first record, according to GRADIT.^[3]
• Before 1411 – Donato degli Albanzani uses selvoso “wooded”.^[10]
• Before 1799 – Parini applies it to a thick beard.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) Covered with forests, wooded: colline selvose.^{[3][4][12][1]}
2. (figurative, literary) Thick, bushy, of hair, a beard or eyebrows: una barba selvosa.^[3][7][13]

Related words

• selva
• selvatico
• silvestre
• Latin silvosus

Usage notes

Sabatini–Coletti marks it as uncommon and gives boscoso and silvestre as synonyms.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli