sporcare

Forms

sporcare (first-person singular present spòrco, first-person singular past historic sporcài, past participle sporcàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin spurcō (“to defile, soil”), formed from spurcus (“impure, filthy”).^[2][3][4][1] Outside Italian only Romanian spurca continues the verb.^[5][1] The open /ɔ/ of sporco and of the stressed forms of the verb, where Latin short /u/ should give a close /o/, is put down to porco.^[2][3][6] DELI thinks the Latin adjective perhaps connected with spurius (“bastard”), and Nocentini, following that link, gives it an Etruscan origin.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Apollonio di Tiro, a Tuscan-Venetian text of the mid-14th century, for spoiling the cleanness or purity of something by contact with what stains, also figuratively.^[7] DELI and Nocentini date the verb much later, to the 16th–17th centuries.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense appears before 1600 in Davanzati's Tacitus, where Lutorio Prisco ha sporcato la sua mente e gli orecchi degli uomini (“has fouled his mind and the ears of men”).^[2][8] Sarpi uses sporcarsi for doing something shameful (1607–1618), the literal “to make dirty” is recorded in 1735, and the reflexive “to get oneself dirty” in 1873.^[2] Tommaseo found the verb more familiar and stronger than insudiciare.^[8]

Modern Italian adds sporcarsi le mani “to compromise oneself”, sporcarsi la fedina penale “to get a criminal record”, and in sport sporcare a shot or pass by mishitting the ball.^[9][10][4]

Timeline

• Mid-14th century – The Apollonio di Tiro has sporcare.^[7]
• Before 1600 – Davanzati uses the figurative sense.^[2]
• 1607–1618 – Sarpi uses sporcarsi “to disgrace oneself”.^[2]
• 1735 – The literal sense “to make dirty” is recorded.^[2]
• 1873 – Tommaseo records sporcarsi “to get dirty”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To dirty, soil, stain: Il cane ha sporcato di fango il divano.^[4][9][11]
2. (transitive, figurative) To sully, to compromise morally.^[4][9][12]
3. (transitive, sport) To mishit the ball and spoil a shot or pass.^[4][9]
4. (transitive, music) To play a passage imprecisely.^[9]
5. (nautical, in sporcare l'ancora) To foul the anchor on cables or chains.^[11]
6. (reflexive) To get dirty; figuratively, to lower oneself or disgrace oneself.^[11][12][13]

Word family

• risporcare
• sporcacciare
• sporcatore

Related words

• sporcizia
• sporco
• Latin spurcō
• Romanian spurca

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3600
6. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 941
7. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
8. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli