sporco

Forms

sporco (feminine sporca, masculine plural sporchi, feminine plural sporche, superlative sporchissimo, diminutive sporchétto or sporchìno)^[1] Old Italian also had spurco and the superlative ⟨spurcissimo⟩.^[2][3] A crossing with Latin sucidus gave Old Italian spurcido.^[4][5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin spŭrcus (“impure, filthy”).^[7][8][9][1] The open /ɔ/, where Latin short /u/ should give a close /o/, is due to the influence of porco (“pig”).^[7][8][9][4] DELI quotes Rohlfs on this, and Treccani calls it a folk-etymological association.^[7][10] In the northern dialects the word is ⟨sporc⟩.^[4]

DEI calls the word Romanian and Italian only, and Nocentini names Romanian spurc (“devil”).^[4][8][5] Meyer-Lübke adds Ladin spork (“afterbirth”) from Val Gardena.^[5] The Latin adjective is often connected with spurius (“bastard”), and so taken to be of Etruscan origin.^[8][11][7] Another proposal derives it from Proto-Italic *sporkos, from Proto-Indo-European *spr̥ḱós, perhaps from the root *sper- (“to scatter”), with an original sense “contaminated”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Rime of Nicolò de' Rossi (first half of the 14th century, Tuscan-Venetian), for something that has lost its cleanness or purity by contact with what stains or degrades.^[2] DELI dates the sense “smeared, dirtied” to the Storia di Stefano at the end of the 14th century.^[7][9]

Semantic evolution

The moral sense, “contrary to honesty and honour”, appears in Leon Battista Alberti before 1472.^[7] Alberti also has spurcizia, and Varchi, before 1565, sporcizia.^[7] The verb sporcare was used for moral stains before 1600 (Davanzati), and for physical dirt only in 1735.^[7] In Umbria and Lazio sporchizia has also meant a lightning bolt.^[4] The noun lo sporco, dirt, is recorded in 1960.^[7]

Modern Italian uses the adjective for a dull colour mixed with grey or black, as in bianco sporco, for polluting industries and fuels, for a faulty audio or video signal, and in sport for an irregular shot or bounce.^[9][12][13] Italian commercial language once used sporco for gross weight, and German borrowed it in that sense as Sporko.^[14]

Timeline

• First half of the 14th century – Nicolò de' Rossi uses sporco in his Rime.^[2]
• Late 14th century – The Storia di Stefano uses it for “dirtied”.^[7]
• Before 1472 – Leon Battista Alberti uses the moral sense and the noun spurcizia.^[7]
• Before 1565 – Benedetto Varchi uses sporcizia.^[7]
• 1735 – Sporcare is recorded for “to make dirty”.^[7]
• 1891 – Sporcaccione is first recorded.^[7]
• 1960 – The noun sporco “dirt” is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Dirty, not clean, stained (+ di): Ha le scarpe sporche di terra.^[9][12][13]
2. Of a person, who neglects personal hygiene.^[9][12]
3. Of a colour, dull, mixed with grey or black, as in bianco sporco.^[9][12][10]
4. (figurative) Dishonest, immoral, or of things contrary to honesty: un giro di soldi sporchi.^[9][12][13]
5. (figurative) Vulgar, obscene: Al bar raccontava barzellette sporche.^[9][15][16]
6. Polluting, harmful to the environment: energia sporca.^[9][12][10]
7. Of a sound or signal, unclear, disturbed.^[9][12]
8. (sport) Irregular, imperfect, as in rimbalzo sporco.^[13][15]

Noun

1. Dirt, filth: Dopo il trasloco c'era sporco dappertutto.^[9][13][15]

Word family

• sporcare
• sporcizia
• sporcaccione
• sporcamente
• sporcheria
• sporchezza

Related words

• spurio
• porco
• Latin spurcus

Usage notes

Common phrases are avere la coscienza sporca (to have a guilty conscience), avere la fedina penale sporca (to have a criminal record), farla sporca (to do something underhand) and lavare i panni sporchi in famiglia (to wash one's dirty linen at home).^[9][15][10] In canasta a canasta sporca is a meld that includes one or two jokers.^[15][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli