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soccorso

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word soccorso

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
late 13th century, Novellino
Ultimate origin
Latin succurrō

Pronunciation

  • /sokˈkor.so/[1]

Forms

soccorso m (plural soccorsi)[1] Old and dialect forms include succursu, securso and succurzo.[2]

Etymology

It is from Italian soccorrere (“to help, to rescue”): the noun is the past participle of the verb used as a noun, formed on the model of corso beside correre.[3][4][5][6] GRADIT and Wiktionary trace it instead to Medieval Latin succursus, which DELI finds at Torcello in 1290, a few years before the first Italian record.[7][1][3]

The verb is Latin succurrō (“to run under; to come to the aid of”), formed from currō (“to run”) with the prefix sub- (“under”).[3][4] The same verb is French secourir, Occitan secorre, Catalan socórrer, Spanish socorrer and Portuguese socorrer.[4] Wiktionary compares the French noun secours.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first Italian record is the Novellino of the late 13th century, for help given to someone in great need or danger.[3][7] Dante calls Virgil the one “who was my help in every need” (quei che m'era ad ogne uopo soccorso).[7][8]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word could name the helper as well as the help, a use that survives only in literature, as in Petrarch's ’l mio fido soccorso, and a remedy for an ailment.[7][9][10] The sense “subsidy, money given as help” is recorded in Tasso (1581), and the military sense of troops and supplies sent to relieve a besieged place in Savonarola, before 1498.[3][10]

Soccorso di Pisa, help that comes too late to be any use, is recorded in Berni before 1535; it recalls the aid that the emperor Maximilian promised Pisa, besieged by the Florentines, and never sent.[3][10] The 19th and 20th centuries brought the organised forms of rescue: mutuo soccorso among workers, pronto soccorso “first aid” and “emergency room”, soccorso stradale and soccorso alpino.[7][11][12]

Timeline

  • 1290 – Medieval Latin succursus is recorded at Torcello.[3]
  • Late 13th century – Italian soccorso appears in the Novellino.[3]
  • Before 1498 – Savonarola uses the word for military reinforcements.[3]
  • Before 1535 – Berni uses soccorso di Pisa.[3]
  • 1581 – Tasso uses the word for a subsidy.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. help, rescue: assistance given to someone in danger or in urgent need: I vicini sono corsi in soccorso della donna caduta.[7][11][9]
  2. What is given or received as help, especially money: un piccolo soccorso in denaro.[7][11][10]
  3. (chiefly plural) The people and vehicles sent to help, the rescuers, (military) reinforcements and supplies: I soccorsi hanno raggiunto il villaggio isolato.[7][9][10]
  4. (literary) A person who comes to one's aid, a helper.[7][9][10]

Word family

  • pronto soccorso
  • idrosoccorso
  • aerosoccorso

Usage notes

Pronto soccorso is both first aid and the hospital department where it is given.[11][10][12] Omissione di soccorso is the offence of failing to help a person who is injured or in danger.[10][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  9. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  11. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  12. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
Cite this entry

“Soccorso.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/soccorso. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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