bizzarro

Forms

bizzarro (feminine bizzarra, masculine plural bizzarri, feminine plural bizzarre)^[1] Old Italian texts spell it bizarro and biçarra beside bizzarro.^[2]

Etymology

Its origin is much discussed.^[3][2] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli take it as formed from Italian bizza + -arro: the noun means a fit of temper, and the suffix is the Tuscan form of the northern -aro.^[4][5] Nocentini takes the base to be onomatopoeic, a sequence ⟨bz⟩ / ⟨biz⟩ that copies the buzz of a stinging insect, so that the first sense of the adjective was “stung, irritable”.^[4] The motive still shows in imbizzarrire, said mostly of horses.^[4] Devoto saw the ending as a pejorative suffix of southern origin,^[6] and DELI too thinks it possible that the adjective comes from the noun with a southern suffix.^[3] The difficulty is the date: the noun is recorded much later (before 1566 in Nocentini, before 1729 in DELI and GRADIT), four centuries after the adjective.^[4][3][7] Nocentini explains the gap by the familiar, unliterary character of the noun.^[4]

The explanation that was long most accepted derives the word from Spanish bizarro (“brave”) (1528), itself from Basque bizar (“beard”), the beard being a sign of strength and daring.^[3][8] DELI and the TLIO object that the chronology does not fit, since a personal name Bizzarra already appears in medieval Italian documents from the 12th century.^[3][2] Etymonline no longer considers the Basque derivation tenable.^[9] H. Meier proposed instead Latin vitium (“fault, defect”),^[3][2] a word de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *(d)ui-tio- (“apart, wrong”).^[10]

The borrowing went the other way: the GDLI and Nocentini take the Spanish word (1569 in the GDLI) and French bizarre (1533) from Italian, and the later sense “eccentric” passed into French, German bizarr and English.^[11][4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dante's Inferno (1300–1313), where Filippo Argenti is “’l fiorentino spirito bizzarro” (the hot-tempered Florentine spirit), and the sense is “quick to anger, irascible”.^[3][2][12] Commenting on the line, Boccaccio thought the word was used only by Florentines and always in a bad sense, of people who flare up at the slightest cause and cannot be calmed.^[3][13] The TLIO also records it as a noun, an irascible person.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Through the 14th and 15th centuries the word kept the sense “irascible”: Boccaccio's Decameron calls Filippo Argenti sdegnoso, iracondo e bizzarro (disdainful, wrathful and hot-headed).^[12] The derivative bizzarria first meant “fit of temper” (before 1313, Cecco Angiolieri) and then “oddity, an odd act or word” (Boccaccio).^[3]

The modern sense, “unusual, out of the common way”, appears in Berni before 1535.^[3][12] Tommaseo explains the shift by the link between temper and whim.^[3][12] The GDLI quotes Vasari's bizzarrissimo tempio for a strikingly original building.^[11] The sense “fiery, skittish”, said of horses, is recorded before 1735 (Forteguerri), and Pulci had already written of bizzarri orsacchini (lively bear cubs) before 1494.^[3]

In the eccentric sense the word was borrowed into French as bizarre (before 1544 in DIFIT, with early forms bigearre and bizerre), and through French into English and German.^[14][9] English also took the Italian form bizzarro in 1823.^[14]

Timeline

• 12th century – The personal name Bizzarra appears in medieval Italian documents.^[3]
• 1300–1313 – Dante calls Filippo Argenti spirito bizzarro in the Inferno.^[3][12]
• Before 1313 – Cecco Angiolieri uses bizzarria for a fit of temper.^[3]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses bizzarria for oddity.^[3]
• Before 1494 – Luigi Pulci writes of bizzarri orsacchini.^[3]
• 1528 – Spanish bizarro “brave” is recorded.^[3]
• 1533 – French bizarre is recorded.^[11]
• Before 1535 – Francesco Berni uses bizzarro for “unusual, eccentric”.^[3]
• 1640s – English bizarre is borrowed from French.^[9]
• Before 1735 – Niccolò Forteguerri uses the word of a fiery horse.^[3]
• 1823 – English bizzarro is recorded.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Strange, odd, eccentric: striking by its unusual or whimsical character: Aveva un modo bizzarro di salutare.^[7][5][15]
2. Of a horse or other animal: skittish, fiery, quick to take fright.^[7][5][16]
3. (archaic) Quick to anger, irascible.^[7][5][2]
4. (puzzles) In domanda bizzarra, a question with a double meaning whose answer is also a double meaning.^[17][13]

Word family

• bizzarria
• imbizzarrire
• sbizzarrire
• bizzarramente

Related words

• bizza
• French bizarre
• Spanish bizarro

Usage notes

The zz is voiced, /ddz/, as Prati notes (con z dolce).^[18][1] The superlative bizzarrissimo is old and literary.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b c d e Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 151