sevo

sevo¹ tallow

Etymology tree of sevo¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin sēbum

French suif

Italian sego

Italian sevo

Romanian seu

Spanish sebo

Pronunciation

• /ˈse.vo/^[1]

Forms

sevo m (plural sevi)^[1]

Etymology

The word for tallow is inherited from Latin sēbum, with the regular lenition of /b/ to /v/ between vowels.^[2][3][1][4] Zingarelli starts from the Latin variant sēvum, which is recorded beside sēbum.^[5][6] It is the popular form beside the learned sebo, and sego is the same word with /v/ turned into /g/.^[2][3]

The word is panromance: French suif, Occitan seu, Catalan seu, Spanish sebo, Portuguese sebo, Sardinian seu and Romanian seu.^[7][8][9]

Latin sēbum is attested too early to be a loan from Germanic.^[10] Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny suggest a common source with Germanic words for soap, such as Old High German seifa and Old English sāpe, and the LIV sets up a root Proto-Indo-European *seyb- (“to pour out”), but de Vaan finds /b/ very rare in Proto-Indo-European and leaves the word without an etymology.^[10][7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates sevo before 1292, in Bono Giamboni, and DEI puts an Old Sienese record in the 13th century.^[3][11] Prati cites the vernacular Aesop.^[12] The sense is hard animal fat.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Sevo was the usual written form for centuries, and sego is recorded only from 1619, in Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger.^[3] The adjective sevoso is in Cristoforo Landino in 1476.^[3]

The fat was used to make candles, and today it serves for soap, glycerine and fatty acids.^[4][13] In the past sego was felt as the more popular and regional form, but it now tends to prevail.^[13]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses sevo.^[3]
• 1476 – Cristoforo Landino uses sevoso.^[3]
• 1619 – The form sego appears, in Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. tallow, sego: the hard fat of cattle, horses and sheep, rendered for soap and formerly for candles: candele di sevo.^[14][13][15]
2. sevo vegetale: a fat from the seeds of some plants.^[13][15]

Word family

• sevoso

sevo² cruel

Etymology tree of sevo²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin saevus

Italian sevo

From the same root · sevo²

Latin saeviō ← saevus

Latin saevitia ← saevus

Pronunciation

• /ˈsɛ.vo/^[1]

Forms

sevo (feminine seva, masculine plural sevi, feminine plural seve)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “cruel” is learned: it is borrowed from Latin saevus (“savage, fierce”).^{[14][16][2][17][18][1]}

Latin saevus goes back to Proto-Italic *saiwo- and Proto-Indo-European *seh₂y-wo- (“savage”).^[10][1] Cognates include Old High German sēr (“pain”) and the English word sore, and Wiktionary derives it from a root *sh₂ey- (“to be fierce, afflict”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the adjective before 1400.^[14] Franco Sacchetti's verse addresses death as seva Morte, “cruel Death”.^[19][13][20]

Semantic evolution

GDLI quotes the sevo Neron of a 14th-century poem and the crudeli e sevi soldiers of another, and uses it of a fierce beast and of a terrible pain.^[20] The dictionaries mark it as literary and rare or obsolete.^[13][5][14]

Timeline

• Before 1400 – First record.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary, rare) cruel, merciless, fierce.^{[14][16][13][15]}