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sgamare

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word sgamare

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1952 More words from the 20th century
Inherited from
Latin *exsquamo
Ultimate origin
Latin squama

Forms

sgamare (first-person singular present sgàmo, first-person singular past historic sgamài, past participle sgamàto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is a slang word of Rome, of uncertain origin.[2][3][4][1] In the view of Nocentini and Devoto–Oli it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *exsquamāre, from squama (“scale”) with the prefix ex-, through Romanesco scamare “to remove the chaff, to shell”: a thieves' metaphor, “to strip of the husk, to uncover the contents”.[2][5] Silvestri proposed this from an Abruzzese form meaning “to winnow”, and Lorenzetti supported it with the parallel of Romanesco scafare from scafa “pod”.[2] Related verbs are Occitan escamar, Spanish escamar, Portuguese escamar and Romanian scăma.[2]

Sanga derives it instead from Old Italian camo “cloth of Caen”, the source he also proposes for camuffare, a view Nocentini finds laborious and unsupported.[2] Zingarelli thinks it probably comes from the Romanesco equivalent of camuffare “to disguise”, and Treccani suggests a metathesis of smagare.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti date it to 1952, Zingarelli to 1955 and GRADIT to 1959.[2][5][4][6][3] The early sense is to notice or find out what is hidden.[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The word started in the slang of prisons and is known above all in Rome.[9] Pasolini uses it for noticing what others are up to.[8] From there it passed into the language of the young, meaning to understand, guess or work out something secret, and it also came to mean to catch someone in the act.[9][3][5]

Timeline

  • 1952 – First record.[2][5][4]
  • 1959 – GRADIT's date for the word.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (slang, transitive) To find out, suss out, see through something kept hidden; also absolute: Il professore ha sgamato subito il trucco.[3][5][4][1]
  2. (slang, transitive) To catch someone in the act, nab.[3][5][4][6]
  3. (slang) To watch secretly, eye on the sly.[3][8]

Word family

  • sgamato

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  8. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Sgamare.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/sgamare. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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