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Etymology and origin of the Italian word borsa

Italian has two nouns spelled borsa: the bag, from Late Latin, and the stock exchange, named after a merchants' house in Bruges.[1][2][3] DELI, Nocentini and GRADIT give them separate headwords.[1][2][3]

borsa1 bag, purse

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
early 13th century, Ugo di Perso
Inherited from
Latin bursa
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek βύρσα

Pronunciation

  • /ˈbor.sa/, [ˈbor.d͡za][4]

Forms

borsa f (plural borse)[4] Old forms include Old Italian borza, Old Italian borscia, Old Italian borxa and Old Italian bursa.[5] In central and southern Italy the pronunciation borza prevails.[6][4]

Etymology

The bag is inherited from Late Latin bursa (late 4th century), written ⟨byrsa⟩ in learned spelling, from Ancient Greek βύρσα (búrsa, “hide, leather; wineskin”), an obscure technical word.[1][2][7][4] Already in Medieval Latin the word had most of its modern senses: a leather sack (8th century), a bag for money, a sum of money, a grant, and terms of anatomy and botany.[1] The LEI holds that the sense “leather bag” must already be Latin, although it is first recorded in the 8th century.[7]

The word continues in all the Romance languages: Dalmatian buarsa, Friulian borse, Romansh buorsa, French bourse, Occitan borsa, Catalan borsa, Spanish bolsa, Portuguese bolsa and Sardinian bússa.[7][2][8] Meyer-Lübke adds Romanian boarsă (“scrotum”), with an unexpected vowel.[8] The LEI sets apart a central Italian type ⸢borša⸣, already reflected in the gloss Late Latin byrseus (“of leather”).[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Cremonese poet Ugo di Perso, of the early 13th century;[5][7][1] DELI's first record of the sense “bag” is the Novellino, at the end of the 13th century, and Medieval Latin bursa is recorded in Emilia from 1206.[5][7][1] In the Novellino a figure is dressed “con ricca cintura e borsa” (with a rich belt and purse), and in the purse is a letter.[9]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the bag was above all a purse for money, and the word soon meant money itself: Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, already has the sense “money”, and the TLIO records the proverb È meglio doglia in borsa che doglia in petto (better pain in the purse than pain in the heart).[1][5] Dante writes “in una borsa gialla vidi azzurro, / che d'un leone avea faccia e contegno” (on a yellow purse I saw blue, which had the face and bearing of a lion).[9] Tuscan statutes used the word for a bag holding sealed objects and the slips used for drawing lots.[5]

From the 14th century the word named sac-shaped parts of the body, in particular the scrotum.[1][5] The plant borsa di pastore (shepherd's purse) is named for the shape of its fruit, like the little bag in which a shepherd keeps salt for his animals; the half-Latin borsapastoris is in Florio in 1598.[1] Other senses followed: the liturgical burse holding the corporal (1714), the grant called borsa di studio after French bourse (Italian 1890, plain borsa 1886), the water or ice bag (borsa dell'acqua, del ghiaccio, 1949), and the purse of a boxing match (1953).[1] Among the derivatives, borsetta is in Boccaccio and took the sense “lady's handbag” in Verga in 1880, borsellino is in Sacchetti, and borsaiolo “pickpocket” is first recorded before 1665.[1]

Timeline

  • 1206 – Medieval Latin bursa is recorded in Emilia.[1]
  • Early 13th century – Ugo di Perso of Cremona has the first Italian record.[5][7]
  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses the word for “money”.[1]
  • End of the 13th century – The Novellino uses borsa “purse, bag”.[1]
  • 14th century – The word is used in anatomy for a sac-shaped part, especially the scrotum.[1]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses borsetta.[1]
  • 1598 – Borsapastoris “shepherd's purse” appears in Florio.[1]
  • 1890 – Borsa di studio appears in a decree.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A bag, especially of leather or fabric, for carrying money, papers or personal things; a handbag: Ha dimenticato la borsa sul treno.[3][10][11]
  2. Money, means: pagare di borsa propria (to pay out of one's own pocket).[3][11][12]
  3. borsa di studio: a scholarship, a grant to a student or researcher.[3][10][12]
  4. (anatomy) A sac-shaped structure, a bursa; the pouch of a kangaroo.[3][11]
  5. (chiefly in the plural) Bags under the eyes.[3]
  6. A bulge in worn clothing: Quei pantaloni fanno le borse alle ginocchia.[3][13]
  7. (botany) The swelling of a branch that bears the fruit.[3][11]
  8. (boxing) The purse, the sum agreed for each fighter.[3][12]
  9. (liturgy) The burse, the square case in which the corporal is kept.[10][11]

Word family

  • borsetta
  • borsellino
  • borsello
  • borsetto
  • borsone
  • borsaiolo
  • borseggiare
  • borseggio
  • borseggiatore
  • borsata
  • borsista
  • imborsare
  • esborsare
  • esborso
  • sborsare
  • rimborsare
  • rimborso

borsa2 stock exchange

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing, Eponym
First attested
1567, Lodovico Guicciardini
Borrowed from
French bourse

Pronunciation

  • /ˈbor.sa/, [ˈbor.d͡za][4]

Forms

borsa f (plural borse)[4]

Etymology

The stock exchange is, in Nocentini's and Devoto–Oli's view, borrowed from French bourse, which entered Italian in the 17th century.[2][10] The explanation of the name goes back to Lodovico Guicciardini (1567): “Borsa” (“Van der Beursen”) was a noble family of Bruges whose arms showed three purses; their house gave its name to the square in front of it, where merchants met, and the merchants then gave the same name to the squares of Antwerp and other towns where they traded.[1][14][6] DEI and Gabrielli make the family the Venetian merchants “Della Borsa”, whose name became Dutch “Van der Burse”;[15][13][14][6] Prati and the GDLI add that the house lodged Venetian merchants from the 14th century.[15][13][14][6]

Some scholars objected that the phrase “moneta communiter in bursa currens” is found at Liège in 1252 and in Brabant in 1290, but DELI does not think the objection strong enough to drop the traditional account, which Albert Henry checked against archive documents in 1953.[1] The word is ultimately the same as the bag, borsa1.[11][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record of the sense is Lodovico Guicciardini's Descrizione di tutti i Paesi Bassi (1567), which describes the exchange of Antwerp as built on the model of that of Bruges;[6][1] French bourse in this sense is of the same period.[6][1] DELI and GRADIT date the Italian word to Gabriello Chiabrera, before 1638.[1][3]

Semantic evolution

Antwerp took the name from Bruges, the French took it to Toulouse (an edict of 1549 favours the merchants of the Toulouse bourse), and the English to London.[14] DEI holds that the word became general after the building of the Bourse de Paris in 1719.[15] Tommaseo's dictionary (1865) has the sense “building where the exchange is held”.[1]

Borsista “speculator” is recorded in 1796, earlier in French.[1] Around 1940 borsa nera meant the clandestine trade in currency and securities, perhaps a calque of German schwarze Börse; in the war it became the black market in rationed goods, and borsanera is recorded in 1942.[1][2] The phrases borsa merci (1955) and borsa valori (1965) followed.[1] By extension the word is used for any market, such as the transfer market for footballers.[3][11]

Timeline

  • 1252 – Moneta communiter in bursa currens is recorded at Liège.[1]
  • 1549 – An edict of Henry II favours the merchants of the Toulouse bourse.[14]
  • 1567 – Lodovico Guicciardini describes the borsa of Bruges and Antwerp.[6][1]
  • Before 1638 – Gabriello Chiabrera uses the word.[1][3]
  • 1719 – The Bourse de Paris is built and the word becomes general.[15]
  • 1796 – Borsista “speculator” is recorded.[1]
  • 1942 – Borsanera “black market” is recorded.[1][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (often capitalised) The stock exchange, the public market, under state control, where shares, securities and goods are traded: giocare in borsa (to play the market).[3][10][11]
  2. The trend of trading on the exchange: Oggi la borsa ha chiuso in calo.[3][10]
  3. The building where trading takes place.[3][10][13]
  4. By extension, any market or exchange of goods, such as the transfer market for footballers.[3][11][13]
  5. borsa nera: the black market.[3][13]

Word family

  • borsanera
  • borsanerista
  • borsino
  • borsistico
  • Late Latin bursa
  • French bourse

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 8, 264
  8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 318
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  12. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  13. ^ a b c d e f Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  14. ^ a b c d e Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 165
  15. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 569

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Borsa.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/borsa. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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