scaramuccia

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ska.raˈmut.t͡ʃa/
• Rhymes: -uttʃa
• Hyphenation: sca‧ra‧mùc‧cia

Etymology 1

From Old Italian schermugio (“skirmish”) (both with diminutive ending?). Alternatively both Italian forms might be derived from Old French escarmuche. Related to the verb schermire (“to protect, shield; to fence, swordfight”), stemming from Lombardic skirmen or Frankish *skirmijan (“to protect, defend”).

Cognate with Old High German skirmen, scirmen (“to shield, defend, protect”), skirm (“shade, protection”). More at skirmish, escarmouche.

Noun

scaramuccia f (plural scaramucce)

1. skirmish
2. squabble

Descendants

• →? Old French: escarmuche
  • Middle French: escarmuche
    • French: escarmouche
    • → Middle English: skarmuch
      • English: skirmish
• →⇒ Middle High German: scharmutzel, scharmützel (via Upper Italian scaramuzzo + -el)
  • German: Scharmützel
  • → Middle Low German: schermützel
    • →⇒ Dutch: schermutseling (+ -ing)
    • →⇒ Swedish: skärmytsling (+ -ing)
• → Portuguese: escaramuça
• → Spanish: escaramuza

Further reading

• scaramuccia in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

scaramuccia

1. inflection of scaramucciare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative