brezza

Forms

brezza f (plural brezze)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[2][3][4][1] GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti take it as probably borrowed from Catalan brisa, or the Genoese form brixa, crossed with Old Italian rezzo (“cool air”).^[3][5][1] DELI reports that the older explanations, from Old Norse *brisa, from a pre-Latin root or from an imitative ⟨br-⟩, have been given up.^[2] Lüdtke (1960–61) traced a chain from ribrezzare, from Vulgar Latin *reauridiāre (“to blow again”), to brezzare and then to the noun;^[2] Alessio, pointing to the late appearance of the word and to its phonetic difficulties, saw instead an adaptation of the foreign word of Catalan and of 15th-century Genoese, crossed with old orezza and its shortened form, and Corominas reached the same conclusion.^[2] The Genoese word, pronounced with /ʒ/, is recorded in the first half of the 15th century, as is the Catalan one; from these came Spanish brisa and Portuguese brisa in the 16th century, and then French brise, English breeze and German Brise.^[6]

Nocentini proposes instead Vulgar Latin *prigitia (“repugnance”), from Latin pigritia (“sloth”) by metathesis of the ⟨r⟩ and loss of the ⟨g⟩ between two ⟨i⟩, as in venti from vīgintī, through an intermediate ⟨*prezza⟩ whose ⟨pr-⟩ was later voiced to ⟨br-⟩ under the influence of sound symbolism.^[6] The older form is confirmed by riprezzo (“horror, shudder”), an archaic variant of ribrezzo, and the metathesis by Sardinian preìttia (“sloth”).^[6] He points to a passage of Seneca, in which the Latin word means the repugnance of a nauseated stomach, a sense that leads to “shudder”.^[6] Devoto–Oli follow this explanation.^[7]

The LEI puts the word and its relatives meaning “shudder” in a pre-Romance family of words for a demon passing in haste and for weather such as icy wind, hoarfrost and fog, which also gave Spanish bruja (“witch”), and traces it to an Indo-European root meaning “to roar, rage”.^[8][6] Nocentini objects that this base always has a back vowel.^[6] Its volume on the Latin verb notes that the forms with ⟨br-⟩ appear only from the 16th century and in central and northern Italy, and allows for the influence of Lombard brisa, recorded in 1443 as a cold, bad wind and probably pre-Romance.^[9] Older writers saw an imitative ⟨br-⟩ expressing cold, as in brivido and breva,^[10][11][12] and Devoto derived it from *brevidia, formed on that wind name as the Latin verb was formed on Latin aura (“breeze”).^[13][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first sure record is in L. Martelli, before 1530: All'altalena fan le notti, e i giorni, / e la brezza, e le nebbie, e i venti, e l'onde (“nights and days, the breeze, the fogs, the winds and the waves go up and down as on a seesaw”).^[2][14] The passage of Cavalca (before 1342) that the Crusca dictionary and the TLIO cite is a misreading: there brezza is a shortening of ebbrezza “drunkenness”.^[2][15] Zingarelli dates the word to 1468.^[16]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the word meant a cold wind: G. M. Cecchi explains it as a little cold air that comes through a badly closed door or window, or blows in the morning.^[14] Tommaseo still defines it as a stiff, dry wind and links it with brivido.^[12] Florio's dictionaries give “wind mixed with drizzle” (1598) and “light snowfall” (1611), and Tuscan dialects have brezzare “to chatter one's teeth with cold”;^[8] abbrezzare “to suffer cold from the breeze” is recorded in 1688.^[8]

Modern meteorology uses brezza for a light periodic wind caused by the unequal heating of neighbouring areas, as in brezza di mare, brezza di terra, brezza di monte and brezza di valle, and everyday language for any pleasant cool wind.^[3][16][4] Manzoni writes of a brezzolina sorda, uguale, sottile (“a dull, even, thin little breeze”).^[4]

Timeline

• Before 1342 – A passage of Cavalca later read as brezza really has ebbrezza.^[2][15]
• 1443 – Lombard brixa is recorded as a cold, bad wind.^[9]
• First half of the 15th century – Old Genoese brixa and Catalan brisa are recorded.^[6]
• 1468 – Zingarelli's date for brezza.^[16]
• Before 1530 – L. Martelli uses brezza for a light wind.^[2][11]
• 1598 – Florio glosses brezza as wind mixed with drizzle.^[8]
• 1688 – Abbrezzare “to suffer cold from the breeze” is recorded.^[8]
• 1838 – Tommaseo uses brezzo “chilly” of the weather.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (meteorology) A breeze: a light wind that blows at regular times of day, especially along coasts, caused by the unequal heating of neighbouring areas: brezza di mare, brezza di terra.^{[3][7][16][17]}
2. (by extension) Any light, cool and pleasant wind: la sera saliva dal lago una brezza fresca.^[3][5][18]

Word family

• ribrezzo
• brezzolina
• brezzetta
• brezzare
• abbrezzare

Related words

• rezzo
• orezzo
• brivido
• breva
• Catalan brisa
• English breeze

Usage notes

The ⟨zz⟩ is pronounced either voiced or voiceless.^[1][17] Diminutives are brezzetta, brezzettina and, most often, brezzolina.^[4][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
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. 7, 395
9. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 2484
10. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 175
11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 68
14. ^ 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, 370
15. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
16. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli