balzare

Forms

balzare (first-person singular present bàlzo, first-person singular past historic balzài, past participle balzàto, auxiliary èssere)^[1]

Etymology

Most dictionaries derive it from Vulgar Latin: it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *balteāre, a verb formed on baltea, the plural of balteum (“belt”), in the sense of balza “crag, steep slope”.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} In the amphitheatres the Latin plural named the walls that separated the tiers of seats.^[4]

The LEI rejects this base on semantic grounds: the core of the verb is “to bounce”, not “to fall from a height”, and the crag sense only coloured it later.^[2][8] The LEI, Nocentini and the TLIO derive it from *baltiāre, a variant of *baltāre, itself shortened from *ballitāre (“to swing, sway”), a frequentative of ballō (“to dance”).^[8][9][10] The same base gave the old baltare (“to overturn”) and ribaltare.^[9] Wiktionary also mentions a Late Latin *ballizāre, from Ancient Greek βαλλίζω (ballízō).^[1] Tommaseo had compared βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).^[11] Battisti and Alessio, Gabrielli and the GDLI derive the verb directly from the noun for “crag”.^[12][13][14]

The Italian verb passed into Middle French as balser.^[12] Latin ⟨balteus⟩ is of doubtful origin: Varro, as cited by Charisius, called it Etruscan, but Bonfante Warren noted that Etruscan had no /b/.^[15][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Sienese Chiose Selmiane (1321–1337), in the form balçando, with the sense “to leap, to move quickly”.^[10][9] In 1481 Landino uses it of the ball in the game of palla: a player who misses the ball when it is sent li dà poi quando balza “strikes it later when it bounces”.^[2][14]

Semantic evolution

The bounce of a ball stayed at the centre of the word: Florio in 1598 gives “a bound of a ball” as the first sense of balzo, and many of Tommaseo's examples come from the ball game.^[2][11] Pulci, before 1483, uses the verb transitively, “to make leap”.^[2][8] Leonardo has balzo, the bounce of a body striking the ground, in 1508.^[2][14] From the ball game came prendere la palla al balzo “to take the ball on the bounce”, that is, to seize the opportunity, recorded before 1686.^[2]

Aretino in 1527 and 1533 and Caro about 1556 use balzare in the slang sense “to put in prison, to get into trouble”.^[2][8] Tassoni in 1617 writes balzare le scale “to leap down the stairs”, and Goldoni and Metastasio use the verb for “to fling, hurl”.^[8] The heart began to leap in 1714 (Maffei), and balzare agli occhi “to leap to the eyes, be obvious” is recorded from 1785 (Cesarotti).^[2] In 1963 balzarello was proposed, without success, as an Italian word for ping-pong.^[2]

Many prefixed verbs are formed from it: rimbalzare (before 1321), trabalzare (before 1311), sbalzare (16th century) and sobbalzare (18th century).^[9]

Timeline

• 1321–1337 – The Chiose Selmiane have balçando.^[10][9]
• 1481 – Landino uses balzare of a bouncing ball.^[2]
• Before 1483 – Pulci uses the verb transitively.^[2]
• 1508 – Leonardo uses balzo.^[2]
• 1527 – Aretino uses balzare “to put in prison”.^[8][2]
• Before 1686 – Prendere la palla al balzo is recorded.^[2]
• 1714 – Maffei uses balzare for a start or jolt.^[2]
• 1785 – Cesarotti writes balzare agli occhi.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To leap up suddenly, to spring: Il cane balzò oltre il cancello.^{[3][4][5][7][1]}
2. (intransitive) To throw oneself forward, to rush: balzare all'assalto, to charge;^[3][7][5] balzare di sella, to jump down from the saddle.^[3][7][5]
3. (intransitive, uncommon) Of an elastic body, to bounce (rimbalzare).^[4][5][1]
4. (intransitive, figurative) Of the heart, to throb or start violently.^[3][4][7][1]
5. (intransitive, figurative) To appear suddenly and clearly: balzare agli occhi, to be glaringly obvious;^[3][4][7][1] balzare in primo piano, to come to the fore.^[3][4][7][1]
6. (transitive, uncommon) To hurl, to throw down or out, the same as sbalzare.^[3][6][5][7]

Word family

• balzellare
• balzo
• sobbalzare
• balzelloni
• rimbalzare
• rimbalzo
• sbalzare
• sbalzo
• sobbalzo
• trabalzare
• trabalzo
• ribalzare

Related words

• balza
• ballare
• ribaltare
• Latin balteus

Usage notes

The verb takes the auxiliary essere.^[4][5][7] Prendere la palla al balzo “to seize the opportunity” uses the derived noun balzo.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 4, 994
9. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 420
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
15. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press