Etymologically
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sud

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Pronunciation

Forms

sud m (invariable)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French sud, which comes from Old English sūþ.[2][3][4][1] DELI dates the French word to 1529 and GRADIT to about 1170, and DEI and Prati to the 12th century.[2][4][5][6] DEI and Prati also allow a Spanish source, but Andrea Dardi, quoted by DELI, rules it out: Spanish sur was the form of the 16th and 17th centuries, and ⟨sud⟩ appears only from 1734.[2][5] In that period the usual Italian forms were ⟨sur⟩ and ⟨sul⟩, taken from Spanish and, from Portuguese sul, and Bartoli wrote ⟨sul⟩.[2][6] Zaccaria thought the word came in through 16th-century trade with the Dutch, Flemish and English sailors of the Atlantic, and Tommaseo called it a Dutch word.[7][8]

The English word goes back to Proto-Germanic *sunþrą.[1] Nocentini connects it with a Germanic word for “right”, since the south lies to the right of one who faces the sunrise, as the north lies to the left.[3] Old High German sundan lost its ⟨n⟩ in German Süden, a sign that the modern word came from Low German.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI and GRADIT date the word to 1561, in the geographer Moleto, who notes that “our people call it ostro and mezzogiorno, and those of the Ocean sut”.[2][4][8] Zingarelli dates it before 1557, and Zaccaria cites Pigafetta, who died in 1531.[9][7]

Semantic evolution

DEI's first record of sud is in Corsini (1699), with the sense “south wind” in Oudin's dictionary (1663); Siri measured a distance “dal Nort al Sud” in 1644.[2][5][10] The sense “southern part of a country” is recorded in the Milanese press in 1846.[2]

Sud came to mean the southern regions of Italy, with their lower level of industry, and the poorer countries of the world (il Sud del mondo).[4][11] Compounds followed: sudest and sudovest in the first half of the 18th century, sudafricano (1892), perhaps after English South African, sudamericano (1914) and sudista, a Southerner in the American Civil War.[3][2] In sailors' slang sudovest was a sou'wester, the oilskin hat, after the English word (1927).[2]

Timeline

  • 1561 – Moleto has sut as the sailors' name for the south.[2][8]
  • 1644 – Siri writes dal Nort al Sud.[2][10]
  • 1663 – Oudin records the sense “south wind”.[5]
  • 1699 – Corsini uses sud.[5]
  • First half of the 18th century – Sudest and sudovest are recorded.[3]
  • 1846 – The sense “southern part of a country” appears in the Milanese press.[2]
  • 1892 – Sudafricano is recorded.[2][3]
  • 1927 – Panzini records sudovest “sou'wester”.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. South: the cardinal point opposite the north, where the sun stands at midday (symbol S): La finestra guarda a sud.[4][11][9]
  2. The southern part of a country or region: Hanno una casa nel sud della Francia.[4][11][12]
  3. (usually capitalised) The South of Italy, the regions of the Mezzogiorno: Si è trasferito al Sud per lavoro.[4][11]
  4. (usually capitalised) The economically less developed countries of the world.[4][11][12]
  5. (bridge) The position of the player who partners North.[4][11][9]

Adjective

  1. Southern, facing south (after a noun, invariable): il versante sud della collina.[4][9][13]

Word family

  • sudest
  • sudovest
  • sudista
  • sudafricano
  • sudamericano

Usage notes

Sud is invariable.[1] Profondo Sud, “the Deep South”, is used of deprived southern regions, in America and in Europe.[9][14] Its synonyms are mezzogiorno and meridione.[13][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3671
  6. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 961
  7. ^ a b c Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
  8. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  9. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli