selvaggio
See also: Selvaggio
Italian
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Old Occitan salvatge, from Vulgar Latin *salvāticus, from Latin silvāticus (“of the woods”). Doublet of the inherited selvatico. Compare Sicilian sarbaggiu, Spanish salvaje, Portuguese selvagem, Catalan salvatge, Piedmontese salvaj.
Pronunciation
Adjective
selvaggio (feminine selvaggia, masculine plural selvaggi, feminine plural selvagge)
- (of flora or fauna) wild, savage
- 1321, Dante Alighieri, La divina commedia: Inferno [The Divine Comedy: Hell], 12th edition (paperback), Le Monnier, published 1994, Canto I, page 6, lines 4–6:
- Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura ¶ esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte ¶ che nel pensier rinova la paura!
- Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say what was this forest savage, rough, and stern, which in the very thought renews the fear
- Synonym: selvatico
- (of people) savage, primitive
- ferocious
- brutal, cruel (torture)
Noun
selvaggio m (plural selvaggi)
Derived terms
Related terms
Categories:
- Italian terms borrowed from Old Occitan
- Italian terms derived from Old Occitan
- Italian terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- Italian terms derived from Latin
- Italian doublets
- Italian 3-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/addʒo
- Rhymes:Italian/addʒo/3 syllables
- Italian lemmas
- Italian adjectives
- Italian terms with quotations
- Italian nouns
- Italian countable nouns
- Italian masculine nouns