mozzarella

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian mozzarella,^[2][3][4][5] recorded in Italian from 1570,^[2] a diminutive with the suffix -ella of mozza, a kind of cheese, recorded before 1481,^[2][5][6][7] literally "a cut" or "a slice",^[8][4] from mozzare (“to cut off, chop”),^{[2][9][10][7]} from mozzo (“mutilated, shortened”).^[2][9] The OED explains that the cheese was so called because it was shaped into a bundle and then chopped.^[2] The Italian adjective is from Vulgar Latin *mutius (“cut off, blunted”),^[4][9] which is related to Latin mutilus (“maimed”), the source of mutilate.^[4][9] Barnhart takes mozza as a kind of cheese made from buffalo's milk.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A mild white cheese from southern Italy, made with buffalo milk: 1911, in a report by C. Besana in the Bulletin of the Bureau of Agricultural Intelligence and Plant Diseases.^[2][3][5] Etymonline also notes an isolated use of 1881, as an Italian word, in a United States consulate report from Italy.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The cheese was originally made in the Naples area from buffalo milk;^[6][4] the OED notes that outside that area it is usually made with cow's milk.^[2] English sometimes uses the Italian plural mozzarelle.^[2] In American Black slang, mozzarella is one of several cheese words for money, recorded in 2000.^[11]

Timeline

• 1881 – an isolated use as an Italian word in a US consular report.^[4]
• 1911 – a soft white Italian cheese.^[2][3][5]
• 2000 – US Black slang, money.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mild, moist white curd cheese with a springy texture, first made in southern Italy from buffalo milk and now usually from cow's milk: She topped the pizza with fresh mozzarella.^[10][5][2]
2. (US slang) Money.^[11]

Related words

• mutilate

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com