slavina

Forms

slavina f (plural slavine)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian s- + lavina, with the intensive prefix.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Devoto calls the prefix durative, and the GDLI traces it to ex- with intensive force.^[7][8] DELI describes the word as a variant of parts of the Veneto that has displaced the older and more widespread base word, also in geographical writing.^[9] Wiktionary skips the Italian step and calls it inherited from Latin.^[1]

The base word is learned, from labīna (“landslide”), found in Augustine and Isidore, a derivative of lābor (“to slip, fall”).^[9][2] The Latin word had popular outcomes early, as place names and in charters of 936 and 983.^[9] It also gave Neapolitan lavina and Sicilian lavina “mountain torrent”, and passed into German Lawine (“avalanche”).^[2] With a pre-Roman suffix it gave the northern Lombard lavanca, the source of valanga.^[10][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record of the standard word is Dante Olivieri's small dictionary of mountaineering terms, published in Milan in 1934, under lavina.^[9][8] The word is older in the Venetian dialects, where Patriarchi has it in 1775.^[9] It names a mass of snow that slides down a mountain slope.^[9][3]

Semantic evolution

DEI dates the word to the 19th century and notes a masculine slavino in northern Italy.^[11] Twentieth-century writers such as Jahier, Stuparich and Malaparte used it for slides of powdery snow, and Gadda for the snow heaped at the foot of a slope.^[8]

A figurative sense, a confused and violent outburst of anger or social protest, appears in Giorgio Bocca's slavina giovanile (“youth avalanche”) in la Repubblica in 1986.^[8]

Timeline

• 1775 – Patriarchi records the word in the Venetian dialect.^[9]
• 19th century – DEI's date for the word.^[11]
• 1934 – Olivieri's dictionary of mountaineering terms brings it into standard Italian.^[9][3]
• 1986 – Giorgio Bocca uses it figuratively for a wave of youth protest.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A snowslide: a mass of powdery snow that breaks away from a mountain slope and falls into the valley, especially during the spring thaw: Una slavina ha bloccato la strada del passo.^[3][4][5][6]
2. (by extension) Snow piled up at the foot of a slope after such a slide.^[8]
3. (figurative) A confused, violent outburst of anger or protest.^[8]

Word family

• slavinare
• slavinamento

Related words

• lavina
• valanga
• Latin labina

Usage notes

Treccani treats slavina as a variant of lavina used especially for a slide of powdery snow.^[12][13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 119
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3512
12. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana