balzo

balzo¹ leap, bounce

Etymology tree of balzo¹

inherited borrowed derived

Italian balzare

Italian balzo

Pronunciation

• /ˈbal.t͡so/^[3]

Forms

balzo m (plural balzi, diminutive balzétto or balzèllo)^[3]

Etymology

The word for the leap is from Italian balzare (“to bounce, leap”), a noun formed from the verb.^[1][2][5][3] The origin of balzare is disputed.^[1][4] DELI and GRADIT derive it from a Vulgar Latin *balteāre, made from baltea in the sense “crag”, which would tie it to the word for the ledge.^[1][2] The LEI and Nocentini start instead from *baltiāre, derived from *ball(i)tāre (“to sway, overturn”).^[4][6] The LEI rejects the link with the crag on semantic grounds: the core of the verb is “to rebound”, not “to fall from a height”.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Leonardo da Vinci, 1508, for the bounce of an elastic body after striking the ground: Il balzo è resurgimento di moto finito (“the bounce is the rising again of a motion that has ended”).^[1][2][7] Nocentini dates the word before 1449.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The oldest uses come from the ball game: the earliest record of balzare, in Landino, refers to it, and Florio in 1598 gives as the first meaning of balzo “a bound of a ball”.^[1] From this comes prendere la palla al balzo, “to seize the opportunity”, recorded before 1686 in Francesco Fulvio Frugoni.^[1] Di balzo “indirectly” is in Giovio in 1550, and the general “sudden movement” is dated before 1928, in Svevo.^[1]

Ariosto has a severed head that “made three bounces” (fe' tre balzi).^[7] Modern Italian uses the word for a leap or start, a jolt of the heart, and figuratively for a sudden step forward.^[2][5][8] DEI also records a 15th-century Sienese balzo for a levy, the same as balzello.^[9]

Timeline

• Before 1449 – Nocentini's date of first record.^[4]
• 1508 – Leonardo da Vinci uses balzo for a bounce.^[1]
• 1550 – Di balzo “indirectly” appears in Giovio.^[1]
• 1598 – Florio glosses balzo “a bound of a ball”.^[1]
• Before 1686 – Prendere la palla al balzo is recorded.^[1]
• Before 1928 – Svevo uses balzo for a sudden movement.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. The bounce of a ball or other elastic body after it strikes the ground: prendere la palla al balzo, to seize the opportunity.^[2][5][10]
2. A leap, a quick jump or spring: Il cane superò il fosso con un balzo.^[2][5][8]
3. A start, a jolt: Al suono del campanello ebbe un balzo.^[5][8][11]
4. (figurative) A sudden advance or improvement: un balzo in avanti.^[2][5][8]

Word family

• balzello
• balzetto

balzo² ledge, crag; band

Etymology tree of balzo²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin balteus

Italian balzo

Romanian balț

Pronunciation

• /ˈbal.t͡so/^[3]

Forms

balzo m (plural balzi)^[3]

Etymology

The word for the ledge is inherited from Latin balteus (“belt, baldric”), which besides “belt” had taken on the sense of a place ringed by cliffs.^[1][2][3] The LEI notes that Latin does not record the word for features of the land, but its old use in the Alps and the Apennines is shown by Old Occitan baus (“projecting rock”), recorded in the 13th century, and Old Catalan baus.^[12] Words for “belt, band” such as cingulum, corona and fascia show the same shift to “ledge on a mountainside”.^[12] The DÉRom reconstructs Proto-Romance */ˈbalti-u/ “band for tying; strip of land above a hollow”.^[13]

The same word is Occitan baus, Catalan bals (“projecting rock”), Spanish balso (“rigging”), Portuguese balso (“hawser”) and Romanian balț (“belt”).^[4][14] The learned balteo is a later borrowing of the same Latin word.^[1][3] Varro called balteus an Etruscan word, a claim Nocentini finds unconfirmed.^[1][4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Dante's Commedia (1300–1313), for a jutting part of the ground or a steep place: giù di balzo in balzo (“down from ledge to ledge”).^[1][15][16] The balzu of the early 13th-century Marchigian Ritmo su Sant'Alessio still has the Latin sense “belt”.^[1][12]

Semantic evolution

In Dante's Purgatory the balzi are the terraces that run round the mountain, and the commentators use the word for the two ledges of Antepurgatory.^[17] The old reading balzo d'oriente in Purgatorio 9, now replaced by balco, put the word into the dictionaries for the eastern horizon.^[16]

The sense “band, trimming” is recorded in 1427 in San Bernardino of Siena, and the Crusca has an earlier example from Cavalca.^[1] About 1470 at Ferrara it was a padded roll for the hair, and in the 14th and 15th centuries a turban-like headdress of wealthy women.^[1][17] Florio in 1598 records balzi for the belts by which sailors work aloft.^[12] From 1847 balzo is the hanging seat for work outboard or in the rigging, otherwise called bansigo.^[12] In dialects it is the straw band that ties a sheaf.^[9][14]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Marchigian balzu “belt” is recorded.^[1][12]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses balzo for a ledge.^[1]
• Before 1342 – Cavalca uses the word for a band.^[1]
• 1427 – San Bernardino of Siena uses balzi for women's ornaments.^[1][16]
• 1441 – Medieval Latin balcium is recorded at Ravenna.^[1]
• About 1470 – A padded roll for the hair is called balzo at Ferrara.^[1]
• 1847 – Balzo is recorded for a hanging seat on ships.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ledge on a mountainside; a crag or steep place; a balza.^[2][5][8]
2. (nautical) A boatswain's chair, a hanging seat or platform for work outboard; a bansigo.^[2][5][8]
3. (dated) A band of trimming, a flounce.^[2][8][10]
4. (historical) A turban-like headdress worn by wealthy women in the 14th and 15th centuries.^[17][3]