squarciare

Forms

squarciare (first-person singular present squàrcio, first-person singular past historic squarciài, past participle squarciàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian isquarciare and Old Italian scarsciare.^[2][3] The GDLI also records old and dialect squarsciare and squarzare.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *exquartiāre (“to cut into quarters”), formed from quartus (“fourth”) with the prefix ex-.^[5][6][7][1] It is closely related to squartare, and the GDLI treats the Latin verb as a variant of *exquartāre.^[5][1][4]

Devoto explains the ⟨ci⟩ as a northern outcome, a form ⟨*squarsar⟩ later made Tuscan, where the regular Tuscan result would have been ⟨*squarzare⟩.^[8] DEI notes the verb at Perugia in 1342.^[9] The REW rejects an older derivation from *excarptiāre for Italian.^[10]

The same formation gave Old Spanish escarçar, Spanish escarzar “to cut the combs out of a beehive”, and Portuguese encarçar.^[10][9] DEI compares Old Occitan esquintar “to tear”, made in the same way from quīntus (“fifth”).^[9]

The Latin numeral comes from Proto-Italic *kʷeturtos, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwr̥tós, from *kʷetwóres (“four”).^[1][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Florentine Fiori di filosafi of 1271–75.^[2] Its first sense is to tear a human or animal body to pieces, or open deep wounds in it.^[2] DELI dates it to Bono Giamboni before 1292, “to tear open violently, rip to shreds”, and the GDLI quotes his David, who squarciava le mascelle (“tore the jaws”) of lions and bears with his bare hands.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used it for tearing clothes, parchment and books, for splitting the earth and the clouds, for squandering wealth, and for throwing the soul into turmoil.^[2] Tearing one's own clothes or face in grief was squarciarsi.^[2][12] The reflexive “to split, open up” is in Jacopone da Todi before 1306.^[5]

The figurative sense “to open, reveal” is dated to 1875, in Rigutini and Fanfani: squarciare il velo del mistero “to tear away the veil of mystery”.^[5][7] The noun squarcio “gash” is in Berni before 1535 and “passage of a text or of music” in Patrizi before 1597.^[5] The adverbial phrase a squarciagola “at the top of one's voice” is first recorded in Tommaseo's dictionary in 1873.^[5][6] Old compounds include squarciavela, a hook for tearing an enemy's sails (Medieval Latin squarzavela, 1268), and squarciavento “braggart”.^[9]

Timeline

• 1268 – Medieval Latin squarzavela, a hook for tearing sails.^[9]
• 1271–1275 – First record, in the Florentine Fiori di filosafi.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for tearing open.^[5]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses the reflexive “to split open”.^[5]
• Before 1535 – Francesco Berni uses squarcio “gash”.^[5]
• 1873 – A squarciagola is recorded.^[5][6]
• 1875 – The figurative sense “to reveal” is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To rip or split open violently along a wide stretch; to lacerate: la scheggia gli squarciò la gamba.^[7][13][14]
2. To tear to shreds: squarciarsi le vesti.^[7][15][16]
3. (figurative) To pierce, to cleave: un raggio squarciò la nebbia.^[7][13][14]
4. (figurative) To reveal: squarciare il velo del mistero.^[7][13][15]
5. (figurative) To break suddenly and violently into a situation: uno sparo squarciò la quiete.^[7][13][14]
6. (figurative) To torment, to rend the heart.^[7][16]
7. (pronominal, squarciarsi) To split, to tear apart; to open up: il cielo si squarciò.^[13][14][15]

Word family

• squarcio
• squarciagola
• squarciato
• squarciamento
• squarciata
• squarciatore
• squarciatura
• squarcina
• squarcione
• risquarciare

Related words

• squartare
• quarto
• Latin quartus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 1092
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
9. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3609
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)