Insurance and the claim

Eleventh on this list is l’assuntore di rischi, and the two languages named this job from opposite ends of the same moment. English named it from the paper. A risk was written out on a slip, and whoever agreed to carry a share of it wrote his name underneath the description — under the writing — so he became « the underwriter », and the verb « to underwrite » spread from there to the backing of a share issue, where nothing is signed at the bottom of anything any more. Italian named it from the act instead. Assumere is ad plus sumere, to take something up onto oneself, and l’assuntore is simply the one who takes the thing on: the same noun serves for whoever takes on a contract, as in l’assuntore dell’appalto. So the English word records a page and the Italian word records a shoulder. Two practical consequences follow: assumere in an ordinary Italian sentence usually means to hire somebody, and « to underwrite » in an ordinary English one usually means to guarantee rather than to insure.