singolo

Forms

singolo (feminine singola, masculine plural singoli, feminine plural singole)^[1] The archaic form is singulo, recorded from the 13th century.^[2][3][4] Old texts also have senglo.^[5]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin singulus (“single, one at a time”), a Latin adjective used mostly in the plural as the distributive of ūnus (“one”).^[6][7][2][4] The derivatives singolare and singolarità continue singulāris and singulāritās.^[6][7]

The Latin word was also inherited, with other meanings: Romanian singur (“alone”), Dalmatian sanglo (“alone”), Campidanese Sardinian singra (“childless woman”), Old French sangle, and Old Occitan sengles, Catalan sengles, Spanish sendos and Portuguese sendos (“one each”).^[2][8][9] Late Latin *singellus, with a change of suffix, gave Spanish sencillo (“simple”), and, from it Sicilian singigghiu.^[2]

The first part of the Latin adjective is the root meaning “one” seen in simplex (“simple”), semper (“always”) and semel (“once”).^[6][7][2] The second part is obscure: DEI rejects a link with the ending of prīvīgnus (“stepson”), and Devoto compares a suffix found in Gothic.^[2][10] Wiktionary lists two proposals, a compound of Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”) with a distributive particle, or with the suffixes *-go- and *-lo-, comparing Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌺𐌻𐍃 (ainakls, “alone”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the statute of the oil-sellers' guild, of the first half of the 14th century, with the sense “considered by itself, apart from the others”.^[6] The statute orders the officers to hand back tutte e singole carte, “each and every paper” of the guild.^[5] GRADIT and Zingarelli date the word before 1332.^[11][4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word was mostly used with tutti to stress each member of a group, as in the Sienese statutes that speak of tutte e singule provisioni, “each and every provision”.^[12][5] The use of the plural noun i singoli for “individuals” was still new in the 19th century: Tommaseo's dictionary of 1873 records it and calls it a barbarous abuse.^[6]

The 20th century gave the word many technical senses: a sleeping-car cabin with one berth (1942), a single scull, translating English skiff (1942), a telephone line for one subscriber (1950), and a singles match in tennis (1951).^[6] Later it also named a record with one or a few songs and the main song on it, and a person who lives alone, after English single.^[11][4]

Timeline

• 13th century – The archaic form singulo is recorded.^[2]
• First half of the 14th century – The statute of the oil-sellers' guild uses singole.^[6]
• Before 1332 – GRADIT's date for the first record.^[11]
• 1873 – Tommaseo records the noun i singoli “individuals”.^[6]
• 1942 – The senses “single cabin” and “single scull” are recorded.^[6]
• 1950 – The sense “single telephone line” is recorded.^[6]
• 1951 – The tennis sense “singles match” is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Considered by itself, separately from the others; individual: Il giudice ha esaminato ogni singolo documento.^[11][3][13]
2. Made up of one element only; single: una lettera in copia singola.^[11][3]
3. Meant for one person: camera singola, letto singolo.^[11][3][4]

Noun

1. The individual, considered by himself or herself, as against the community: Lo Stato deve proteggere anche il singolo.^[11][3][13]
2. (uncommon) A person who lives alone, without a stable partner.^[3][4]
3. (sports) A singles match in tennis and table tennis; in rowing, a scull for one rower and the race for it; in baseball, a hit that gives only first base.^[11][3][13]
4. (music) A record with one or a few songs, and the main song on it: Il loro nuovo singolo esce venerdì.^[11][4][1]
5. (telecommunications) A telephone line used by one subscriber only.^[13][4]

Word family

• singolare
• singolarità
• singolativo
• singoletto
• singolista

Related words

• semplice
• simile
• Latin singulus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3505
3. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 68
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse