usciolo

Forms

usciolo m (plural uscioli)^[1] The older and literary form is Old Italian usciuolo, and Old Italian texts also have usolo and Old Italian usollo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ustĭŏlum, a spoken variant of Latin ostiolum (“small door”), the diminutive of ostium (“door”).^[4][5][1] Pliny already uses the classical form.^[4][6] The vowel /u/ is that of uscio, which continues a Late Latin ustium beside the classical form.^[7][8] Meyer-Lübke lists outcomes of the same diminutive in Romanian, Engadine Romansh, Occitan and Portuguese, where it names a trap for rabbits and partridges.^[9]

Nocentini, Sabatini–Coletti, Devoto–Oli and the TLIO treat the word instead as a diminutive formed in Italian, from Italian uscio + -olo.^{[8][10][11][2]} Wiktionary allows both readings.^[1] The Latin word for door is itself derived from ōs (“mouth”), with the original sense “opening”.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Memoriali bolognesi, legal registers from Bologna, under the year 1288, where the word means a small opening from one space into another, and so a small door.^[2] DEI names Pietro de' Crescenzi and Boccaccio among the 14th-century writers who use it.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word also named a hatch or little shutter.^[2] Boccaccio's Decameron has a lover sent out “by that little door by which he had come in” (per quello usciuolo onde era entrato).^[12] The translation of Crescenzi's treatise on farming uses it for the opening of an earthenware oven and for the flap of a fox trap.^[6]

Later writers use it for a small door set into a carriage gate, and in technical prose for a sluice or bulkhead;^[12] Pietro Nelli gave it an obscene double sense.^[12] In modern Italian it is rare and Tuscan, and its usual sense is the little door of a birdcage.^[10][1][5]

Timeline

• 1288 – The word is recorded in the Memoriali bolognesi.^[2]
• 14th century – Pietro de' Crescenzi and Boccaccio use usciuolo “small door”.^[4][6]
• 15th century – The diminutive usciolino appears in Burchiello.^[4]
• 17th century – Orazio Rucellai uses the variant usciello.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (rare) A small door or porticina.^[11][5][13]
2. (Tuscany) The little hatch of a birdcage, through which the bird is put in or taken out: Chiudi bene l’usciolo, o il canarino scappa.^[10][5][1]

Word family

• usciolino
• uscioletto

Related words

• uscio
• usciere
• Latin ostiolum

Usage notes

A separate Tuscan usciolo, recorded from the 19th century around Florence and in the Montale area, means the assiolo, the Eurasian scops owl: it is a popular alteration of assiolo.^{[4][14][5][15]} A Tuscan proverb about changeable weather runs Sole a usciuoli, acqua a bigonciuoli, “sun in little doorfuls, rain in tubfuls”.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3963
5. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
7. ^ 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 586
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 587
15. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)