somaro

Forms

somaro m (plural somari, feminine somara)^[1] Old forms include Tuscan somaio, used by Angiolieri, and somero in Matazone.^[2][3][4] Other old and dialect forms are sommare and sumaro, and rural Pisan has somarro.^[3][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *saumārius, a variant of Late Latin sagmārius (“pack animal”), from sagma (“pack saddle”), whose later form was sauma.^[5][6][7][1] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek σάγμα (ságma, “pack saddle”), from σάττω (sáttō, “to pack, load”).^[1] Italian soma “load” comes from the same word.^[5][6]

Devoto notes that the ending -aro for Latin -ārius is not the Tuscan development, which appears in the old Tuscan form Old Italian somaio.^[8][4] Medieval Latin somarius is recorded in Salimbene in 1281–1288, and Prati cites saumerius in the Genoese annals of 1225.^[5][2]

The same word is Dalmatian samur, French sommier and Occitan saumier.^[9][6] Italian somiere may have come back from French.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the word to before 1313, and Angiolieri's sonnets have the Tuscan form somaio.^[10][2][3] DELI's first Italian record of somaro is in Domenico Cavalca, before 1342, who tells of a strong young man who could carry more than the donkeys did.^[5][3] From the first it meant an ass, especially as a beast of burden.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “ignorant person” appears in Pietro Aretino, before 1556.^[5] Forteguerri (before 1735) has somaro bardato, a rich man without manners or learning.^[5][11] Its use as an adjective, “ignorant”, is recorded in 1865, and the school sense, a pupil who does badly in class, in M. Pratesi before 1921.^[5] The abstract noun somaraggine appears in Pirandello.^[5][6]

The phrase lavorare come un somaro means to work very hard.^[7][12] The obsolete English word summer “pack-horse” was borrowed from the same Latin source.^[1]

Timeline

• 1225 – Medieval Latin saumerius is recorded in the Genoese annals.^[2]
• 1281–1288 – Salimbene uses Medieval Latin somarius.^[5]
• Before 1313 – The Italian word is first recorded.^[10]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses somaro.^[5]
• Before 1556 – Pietro Aretino uses it of an ignorant person.^[5]
• 1865 – It is recorded as an adjective.^[5]
• Before 1921 – M. Pratesi uses it of a poor pupil.^[5]
• Before 1936 – Somaraggine is recorded in Pirandello.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A donkey, an asino, especially as a beast of burden: lavorare come un somaro, to work very hard.^{[7][12][10][13]}
2. (figurative, derogatory) An ignorant or stupid person, a dunce: Non dargli retta, quel tecnico è un somaro.^{[7][12][10][4]}
3. (figurative) A pupil who does badly at school.^[7][12][4]
4. (figurative) A rude, ill-mannered person.^[10][14]

Adjective

1. (colloquial) Ignorant; doing badly at school: Mio fratello era il più somaro della sezione.^[7][10][4]

Word family

• somaraggine
• somarata
• somarello
• somarone
• somaraccio
• somaresco

Related words

• soma
• somiere
• salma
• Latin sagma

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 928
3. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 414
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli