boia

Forms

boia m (invariable)^[1] A jocular feminine is boiessa.^[2][3] The dialects have Venetian bogia in Venetian, Neapolitan boja in Neapolitan (before 1632, Basile) and similar forms almost everywhere in Italy.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin bōia (“fetter, collar for criminals”), a Latin word used mostly in the plural.^{[5][6][5][6][7]} In Latin it meant a fetter or chain, then an instrument of torture and the badge of the executioner, and by metonymy it came to name the man who put the fetters and the pillory on the condemned.^[5][6] The LEI notes that the Italian forms do not show a popular sound development and suggests a learned word, perhaps from the Latin of the law courts.^[4] Treccani and Devoto give a different route, through Old Occitan boia (“fetters, chains”).^[8][9]

The original sense survives only in Gallo-Romance: Old French buie (“fetter, chain”), recorded in the second half of the 12th century, and the Old Occitan word, about 1200.^[4][10] The sense “executioner” is typical of Italian and recurs in Walloon boie and modern boio.^[4][10] Meyer-Lübke also lists Old Spanish boya (“executioner”) and the Romansh derivative boyer (“executioner”).^[10][3]

The Latin word is a borrowing from Greek: Ancient Greek βοείη (boeíē, “ox hide”), meaning straps of ox leather, from βοῦς (boûs, “ox”).^{[5][6][11][1]} Festus explains the word as a kind of bonds, of wood or of iron, and Isidore of Seville as the collar of the condemned, like a yoke on an ox.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI sets aside an isolated boia in a sonnet by the poet Simone to Cecco Angiolieri, because the context does not fit.^[5] The first sure records are in Luigi Pulci (before 1484) and Bernardo Bellincioni (before 1492), with the sense “the one who must carry out a death sentence”.^[5] In Pulci's Morgante the crowd cries “Muoia, muoia!” (“Let him die!”) while “il boia” works on the condemned man with the heated iron.^[12]

Semantic evolution

As an insult the word appears in Francesco Berni (before 1535), and by 1589 it could mean simply a criminal or scoundrel.^[5] Ariosto speaks of the constable who leads the executioner with him to hang a man.^[12] From the scoundrel the word passed into curses (boia d'un mondo!) and then into an invariable adjective that only strengthens what it follows, as in freddo boia “terrible cold” and mondo boia.^[11][13][8] It also names a ruthless persecutor, and faccia da boia is a sinister, brutal face.^[14][13]

The derivative boiata was first a wicked or brutal act (1941) and then, from before 1915, something done very badly.^[5] Speakers link it with boia, as the Roman bojerìa “villainy” is, but DELI and Nocentini trace the second sense to the northern boiada, a mush from boj “to boil”, which already meant something worthless in Parma in 1856.^[5][6]

Timeline

• Before 1484 – Luigi Pulci uses boia for the executioner.^[5][12]
• Before 1492 – Bernardo Bellincioni uses the word.^[5]
• Before 1535 – Francesco Berni uses boia as an insult.^[5]
• 1560 – Vicentine bogia is recorded.^[4]
• 1589 – The sense “criminal” appears in Barbagli's Pellegrina.^[5]
• Before 1915 – Boiata “botched job” is recorded in Renato Serra.^[5]
• 1941 – Boiata “wicked act” is in the Accademia's dictionary.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. executioner, the person whose task is to carry out death sentences; carnefice: Il boia salì sul patibolo.^[11][14][2]
2. A ruthless persecutor or torturer of others.^[14][13]
3. (colloquial, by extension) A scoundrel, a villain: Non fidarti di quel boia.^[11][2][8]
4. (colloquial) In angry exclamations: boia d'un cane!, boia d'un mondo ladro!^[11][14][13]

Adjective

1. (colloquial) Wretched, nasty, in exclamations: miseria boia!, mondo boia!^[11][13]
2. (colloquial, intensifying) Terrible, extreme: Stanotte ha fatto un caldo boia.^[11][14][2]

Word family

• boiata
• boiaccio
• boiessa

Related words

• Latin boia

Usage notes

Boia is invariable in the plural (i boia), and the rare feminine is used jokingly.^[11][13][2] The phrase fare il boia e l'impiccato means to play two incompatible parts at once.^[11] A separate boia “buoy” (feminine) was recorded at Livorno from 1578, in a translation from Portuguese; it came from Spanish boya, and standard Italian now says boa.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
4. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 6, 475
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 4, 640