solco

Forms

solco m (plural solchi)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian soggo, Old Italian solgo and Old Italian sorco, and the plural could be feminine, Old Italian solca or Old Italian solche.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sŭlcus (“furrow”).^{[4][5][6][7][1]} The same word is Catalan solc and Spanish surco.^[5][8][9]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *solko- and Proto-Indo-European *solk-o- (“furrow”).^[10][1] De Vaan notes that it could in theory continue *sl̥k-o- as well, but prefers *solk-o- because of Ancient Greek ὁλκός (holkós, “trailing; furrow”).^[10] It belongs with ἕλκω (hélkō, “to draw, drag”), Albanian heq (“to draw”) and Old English sulh (“plough”), from a root *selk- (“to pull, drag”).^[10][5][1] Nocentini explains the furrow as a cut made by pulling.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Zingarelli date the word to before 1320.^[6][11] DELI's earliest dated use is Dante's, before 1321, for the wake of a ship: Metter potete ben per l'alto sale / vostro navigio, servando mio solco / dinanzi a l'acqua che ritorna equale (“You may well put your vessel out on the deep sea, keeping to my furrow ahead of the water that turns smooth again”).^[4][12] The furrow cut in the ground by a plough or hoe is recorded before 1332 in Maestro Alberto.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio used the word for a wrinkle before 1375.^[4] In 1550 it is first recorded for any groove like a furrow cut into a surface.^[4] Landino explained that Latin lira means furrow, so that a ploughman who leaves the straight line of the furrow is said to delirare.^[2]

Modern senses include the groove of a gramophone record, the trail left in the sky by jet aircraft, the channel cut by a stream, and in anatomy a narrow depression on the surface of an organ.^[6][12][13] Figuratively a solco is a lasting mark left on the mind, or a rift between people.^[6][11][14] Uscire dal solco means to stray from the subject, and nel solco di to follow a tradition.^[6][11][14] The verb solcare is recorded from about 1350, and solcometro, the ship's log, from 1838.^[4]

Timeline

• Before 1320 – First record of solco.^[6][11]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses solco for the wake of a ship.^[4]
• Before 1332 – Maestro Alberto uses it for a furrow in a field.^[4]
• About 1350 – Solcare is recorded in the vernacular translation of Crescenzi.^[4]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses it for a wrinkle.^[4]
• 1550 – It is used of any furrow-like groove on a surface.^[4]
• 1838 – Solcometro is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A furrow, the long narrow trench cut in the soil by a plough or other tool to take the seed.^{[6][13][7][12]}
2. A long groove or rut in a surface, such as the tracks of wheels: Il trattore ha lasciato solchi profondi nel prato.^[6][13][11]
3. (literary) The wake of a ship; a trail left in the sky, as by a jet or a shooting star.^[6][12][11]
4. The spiral groove of a record; any narrow incision on a surface.^[6][12][14]
5. A deep wrinkle in the face.^[6][13][11]
6. (figurative) A lasting mark left on the mind; a deep rift between people.^[6][7][11]
7. (anatomy) A sulcus, a narrow depression on the surface of an organ: solco lacrimale.^[13][7][12]
8. (geology) A channel cut by a stream.^[13][12]

Word family

• assolcare
• solcare
• solcatore
• solcometro
• solcatura
• solcata
• solchetto

Related words

• Latin sulcus

Usage notes

Uscire dal solco means to digress or go astray, and seguire il solco di qualcuno to follow someone's example.^[11][14][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
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. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli