Tra escatologico e scatologico: l'etimologia dell'ital. "cesso" 'latrina'

In the most recent and authoritative historical and etymological lexicons of the Italian language the masculine noun “cesso” ‘lavatory, toilet’ (13th century) is derived from the Latin RECESSU(M) ‘secluded place’ (in other lexicons, moreover, the word is considered a deverbal noun from the Italian CESSARE ‘to get away’). In this article it is asserted that the etymon to be preferred is the Latin SECESSU(M), which has had the value of ‘lavatory’ since ancient times, and the presence of which in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark has ensured its widespread use in late and mediaeval Latin, from where “cesso” would originate by apheresis of the first syllable (this reconstruction alone, moreover, allows us to give an account of specifc meanings of the Italian nouns “secesso” and “cesso”, otherwise difficult to explain). Furthermore, the article shows how the noun “cesso” has undergone variations in register over time: from purely denotative to diaphasically marked in a negative way.