scomparsa Italian · revision 38493

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1842, Milanese press|origins=la pāreō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /skomˈpar.sa/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''scomparsa''' ''f'' (plural scomparse)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the feminine of [[scomparso]], the past participle of [[scomparire|t=to disappear]], used as a noun.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(GDLI)^(GRADIT 2003) Nocentini derives it from the verb directly.^(Nocentini 2010) The verb is formed from [[comparire|t=to appear]] with the prefix [[s-]] of reversal, and that verb comes from [[la|compāreō|t=to appear, be visible]], a compound of [[m|la|pāreō|t=to appear]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is a Milanese newspaper of 1842, in the sense of the act of disappearing;^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) Zingarelli and Sabatini–Coletti date it to 1848.^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Tommaseo defined ''scomparsa'' as withdrawing from sight, nearly always unexpectedly and more often of persons than of things, and preferred it to French ''disparition''; for things he advised ''lo sparire'' or ''il dileguarsi''.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) The euphemistic sense “death” is recorded in 1940.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ In law ''scomparsa'' is the absence of a person from their home without news, which allows a guardian to be appointed and, later, a declaration of presumed death.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(GDLI) The word is also used for the extinction of a species and for the disappearance of things, and ''a scomparsa'' describes fittings that fold or slide out of sight: ''letto a scomparsa'', ''porte a scomparsa''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1842 – ''Scomparsa'' appears in the Milanese press.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1848 – Zingarelli's and Sabatini–Coletti's date for the word.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ * 1940 – It is recorded in the euphemistic sense “death”.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|disappearance]], vanishing; the fact that someone cannot be found: ''La scomparsa del ragazzo è stata denunciata ieri sera.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(euphemistic)'' [[m|en|death]], passing: ''Tutto il paese ha pianto la scomparsa del vecchio medico.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(law)'' The absence of a person from their home with no news of them, which allows a guardian to be appointed.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The disappearance of things; the [[m|en|extinction]] of a species.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''a scomparsa'': [[m|en|retractable]], folding or sliding out of sight.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[scomparire]]

+ * [[scomparso]]

+ * [[comparsa]]

+ * [[sparizione]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}