Sometimes there are words you cannot help but fall in love with, and for me, the verb sdrucciolare is one of them. It sounds just like what it describes – the act of slipping and falling (or nearly falling) on a very smooth and slippery surface.
sdrucciolare
to slip / to slide
Whereas the more common verb scivolare simply means to slip or slide, sdrucciolare is more evocative, conjuring up the image of an unsuspecting victim unexpectedly losing their footing on an ice rink, a moss-covered slope on a rainy day, or a freshly waxed floor and crashing to the ground in an ungainly fashion.
It most likely derives from the Latin exderoteolare, meaning “to tumble down.”
Sdrucciolare is an -ARE verb, which means that it conjugates in the following manner in the present tense:
- io sdrucciolo = I slip / slide
- tu sdruccioli = you slip / slide (informal, singular)
- lui sdrucciola = he slips / slides
- lei sdrucciola = she slips / slides
- noi sdruccioliamo = we slip / slide
- voi sdrucciate = you (all) slip / slide
- loro sdrucciolano = they slip / slide
C’è il rischio di sdrucciolare su questo pavimento.
There is a risk of slipping on this floor.
My first encounter with this word actually wasn’t with its verb form, but rather its derivative noun sdrucciolo. This is because, in Toscana, it remains in use in many of the street names, such as Vicolo dello Sdrucciolo in Montepulciano. Sdrucciolo, in this case, refers to a steep, slippery slope, but in linguistics, it may also refer to words whose tonic accent falls on the third-to-last syllable (also known as proparoxytone), such as TEMpera, NUvola, and somewhat unsurprisingly, SDRUcciolo itself.
An equally useful word derived from sdrucciolare is sdrucciolevole, an adverb meaning slippery. I encountered this word on a sign in Pienza, not too far from Montepulciano. They really do seem to love their slippery surfaces in these small Tuscan towns!
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
