Etymologically
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uscire

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Pronunciation

  • /uʃˈʃi.re/[1]

Forms

uscire (first-person singular present èsco, first-person singular past historic uscìi, past participle uscìto, auxiliary èssere)[1] Older and regional forms are escire, oscire (Jacopone) and usire.[2][1][3] The present has e- when the stem is stressed (esco, esci, escono) and u- when it is not (usciamo, uscite).[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin exeō (“to go out”), from ex- (“out”) and eō (“to go”).[6][7][8][1] The initial /u/ is due to the influence of uscio (“door”), a word of different origin but close in meaning.[6][7][1] The Latin /ks/ came out as /ʃ/ rather than /ss/, a development that is far from isolated.[6] Devoto–Oli explains the /u/ by the darkening of /e/ before the stress, and the older form escire kept the vowel.[4][2]

The Latin verb is found throughout the Romance languages: Old French issir (whence the participle French issu), Occitan eisir, Catalan eixir, Portuguese exir, Sardinian bessire and Romanian ieși.[7][9] In French and Spanish it gave way to the descendants of other verbs, French sortir and Spanish salir, and in the Italian dialects next to France it gave way to sortire.[10] Forms with /n/ from ne are Tuscan nuscire and Sicilian nèsciri, and in Calabria the verb has blended with the verb for “to be born”.[3][9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates the verb to the end of the 13th century, in the Novellino, for a living being going out of a closed or bounded place and for things or liquids coming out.[6] Dante uses it in the Convivio (1304–1307).[10]

Semantic evolution

Figurative uses followed early: Dante uses the verb for “to turn out, result”, and Giovanni Villani (before 1348) for “to come from, originate”.[6] From the 16th century it was said of a book coming out (Della Casa, before 1556) and of a name or number drawn by lot (1600).[6] Francesco Redi (before 1698) is the first to use it for going out for pleasure, and in 1891 Petrocchi records “to leave a state or condition”, especially as uscirne.[6] In modern use uscire con qualcuno means “to go out with someone, date”, and in football it is said of a goalkeeper leaving the goal line.[4][11]

The prefixed riuscire “to succeed” passed into French as réussir.[9] The noun uscita “exit, way out; expenditure” dates from Dante (1304–1308).[6]

Timeline

  • Late 13th century – The Novellino uses the verb for going out of a place.[6]
  • 1304–1307 – Dante uses it in the Convivio.[10]
  • Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for “to originate”.[6]
  • Before 1556 – Giovanni Della Casa uses it of a book being published.[6]
  • 1600 – The sense “to be drawn by lot” is recorded.[6]
  • Before 1698 – Francesco Redi uses it for going out for pleasure.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To go out, come out, leave an enclosed or bounded place: È uscito dall'ufficio alle sei.[8][4][1]
  2. To go out, especially for entertainment: Il sabato sera esco con gli amici.[8][11]
  3. uscire con: to go out with, date someone.[4][1]
  4. To leave a state, condition or period: uscire da una crisi.[8][6]
  5. Of a book, film or product, to come out, be published or released: Il suo nuovo disco esce a marzo.[11][6][1]
  6. Of a number or name, to be drawn in a lottery or by lot.[11][6]
  7. To come from, descend from, originate in.[6][1]
  8. (football) Of a goalkeeper, to come off the goal line to reach the ball; of the ball, to go out of play.[11]

Word family

  • uscio
  • uscirsene
  • esito
  • Latin exeo

Usage notes

Uscire takes the auxiliary essere.[1][12] Uscire di casa and uscire da casa are both used.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1031
  3. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3963
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  9. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 22, 291
  11. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  13. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli