Abstract

New evidence confirms that scugnizzo is a neologism from the late nineteenth century initially found in the jargon of the criminal underworld (its first known use was in 1888) before appearing in the famous collection of poems 'E scugnizze (1897) by Ferdinando Russo, and in a study by Abel De Blasio on the Camorra (1897). The etymology of the word places its origins after 1860-1861 in the context of post-unification Italy, perhaps originating in the popular slang of Turin.