oscuro Italian · revision 39063

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1257|origins=la obscūrus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /osˈku.ro/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''oscuro''' (feminine oscura, masculine plural oscuri, feminine plural oscure, diminutive oscurétto)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Italian also wrote ''obscuro'' and ''uscuro''.^(GDLI) The popular form [[scuro]] is the same word.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Prati 1951|717)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|obscūrus|t=dark; obscure]], a learned word.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(GDLI) The more popular [[scuro]] continues the same Latin adjective.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|2690) The Latin word is learned in [[fr|obscur]] and [[es|obscuro]] too;^(Nocentini 2010)^(Körting 1907) Körting lists Old French [[m|fro|oscur]] and [[pt|escuro]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Körting 1907) DEI calls the Latin adjective western pan-Romance.^(DEI|2690)

+

+ DELI calls the Latin word hard to analyse, though the part ⟨-scūrus⟩ has several matches in the Indo-European languages.^(DELI 1999) Nocentini takes it from the root [[ine-pro|*skeu-|t=to cover]] with the prefix [[m|la|ob-]], first said of an overcast sky, and compares [[goh|scūr|t=barn, shed]] and [[non|ský|t=cloud]], the source of English [[m|en|sky]].^(Nocentini 2010) De Vaan notes that it is disputed whether the word was cut ⟨ob-scūrus⟩ or ⟨obs-cūrus⟩; he tentatively sets up [[itc-pro|*skoiro-]] from a form meaning “dark, shaded”, with no exact cognate.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary follows a similar reconstruction, [[ine-pro|*(s)ḱeh₃i-]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Zingarelli dates the word before 1257; one of the oldest examples in the GDLI is the northern poet Ugo di Perso, who names walking in cloudy weather (''temp oscur'') among his annoyances.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(GDLI) Bono Giamboni, before 1292, laments “in the depth of a dark night” and uses the word for what is hard to understand.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Dante's ''Commedia'' (1300–1313) opens with the ''selva oscura'', the dark wood, and also uses ''oscuro'' as a noun for darkness.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) Boccaccio has it for black mourning clothes and for a person of no renown, Petrarch for a grim, sullen look.^(DELI 1999) Later senses are “opaque” (Galileo) and “deep, dark in colour” (1565).^(DELI 1999) In the colour sense ''scuro'' is now the usual word.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ In the 19th century the noun took the figurative sense “ignorance”, and the phrase ''essere all'oscuro di'', “to know nothing about”, is recorded from Fortiguerri.^(DELI 1999)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) The derivatives ''oscurantismo'' and ''oscurantista'' follow French [[m|fr|obscurantisme]] and [[m|fr|obscurantiste]];^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) DELI notes that the words seem to have arisen in the circles of the French Enlightenment that they were aimed at.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) ''Oscuramento'' got the wartime sense “blackout” from 1939.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1257 – ''Oscuro'' is first recorded.^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ * Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for poorly lit and for hard to understand.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1300–1313 – Dante's ''selva oscura'', ''oscuro'' as a noun “darkness”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for black mourning clothes.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1374 – Petrarch uses it for grim, sullen.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses it for a person of no renown.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1836 – ''Oscurantismo'' is recorded, after French ''obscurantisme''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1869 – Tommaseo records the noun for “ignorance”.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Without light or with little light; [[m|en|dark]]: ''Il sentiero diventava oscuro tra gli alberi.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(uncommon)'' Of a colour, deep, tending to black (more often [[scuro]]).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Hard to understand or interpret; of a writer, unclear: ''un passo oscuro del trattato''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Not fully known and so disquieting; [[misterioso|alt=mysterious]], suspicious: ''Restano molti lati oscuri nella vicenda.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # Uncertain and unfavourable: ''Per l'azienda si prospetta un futuro oscuro.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # Of a historical period, marked by decline or poorly documented: ''i secoli oscuri''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # Little known, not famous; of origins, humble: ''un oscuro funzionario di provincia''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(literary)'' Of a face or mood, gloomy, [[m|en|sullen]].^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # Darkness: ''Ci siamo trovati all'oscuro quando è saltata la luce.''^(Wiktionary)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Ignorance of something, in ''essere all'oscuro di'' “to know nothing about” and ''tenere all'oscuro'' “to keep in the dark”.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[oscurabile]]

+ * [[oscuramento]]

+ * [[oscurantismo]]

+ * [[oscurantista]]

+ * [[oscurare]]

+ * [[oscurità]]

+ * [[oscuramente]]

+ * [[oscurezza]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|obscurus]]

+ * [[fr|obscur]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Camera oscura'' is the photographic darkroom and also the camera obscura.^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010) ''Materia oscura'' is dark matter in astrophysics.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}