Etymologically
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bugiardo

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Pronunciation

  • /buˈd͡ʒar.do/[1]

Forms

bugiardo (feminine bugiarda, masculine plural bugiardi, feminine plural bugiarde)[1] Old Italian forms include busardo, buxardo, bosardo and busgiardo.[2] The northern bogiadro is in Gerardo Patecchio in the 13th century, and Tommaseo still lists bugiadro as an old form.[3][4]

Etymology

It is from Italian bugia (“lie”) + -ardo, as GRADIT, GDLI and Wiktionary analyse it.[5][6][1] DELI, Devoto and the TLIO describe it more exactly as the Tuscan adaptation of northern Old Italian bugiadro, with the pejorative ending ⟨-ardo⟩ in place of ⟨-adro⟩.[3][7][8][2] The northern word goes back to the Medieval Latin agent noun bausiator (“deceiver”), found in Ratherius in the 10th century.[3][8][7]

The noun bugia is Old Occitan bauzia (“deceit”), which goes back to Proto-Germanic *bausja- (“evil”), the source of Old High German bōsi and German böse.[3][9][10] Zingarelli and Gabrielli start instead from bauzios (“deceitful”), an adjective formed on the noun.[11][12] Meyer-Lübke set the adjective beside bauzaire (“deceiver”), the source of Old Italian buziero in old Venetian texts.[10][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Tuscan translation by Andrea da Grosseto of 1268, with the sense “that tells lies”.[2][11] DELI gives the noun “liar” from the 13th-century Fiore di virtù and the adjective from Bartolomeo da San Concordio (before 1347), who writes: Il dimonio è bugiardo e padre della bugia (“The devil is a liar and the father of lies”).[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Dante says the same of the devil: ch'elli è bugiardo, e padre di menzogna (“that he is a liar, and the father of falsehood”).[6] He also extended the word to things that deceive, in al tempo de li dèi falsi e bugiardi (“in the time of the false and lying gods”).[5][8][3] Old Italian used it for what deceives the senses and for a traitor.[2] Boccaccio has the sense “false, mendacious” in the Decameron (1348–1353).[3]

A pera bugiarda is a variety of pear: Treccani and GRADIT say it cracks easily, Zingarelli and Gabrielli that it looks unripe when it is ripe.[5][14][11][12] In sport a risultato bugiardo is a score that does not reflect the run of the game.[8][11] The derivative sbugiardare “to show up as a liar” dates from the 16th century.[9] French borrowed bugiarder from Italian in the 16th century, and English had bugiard from before 1596.[13][15]

Timeline

  • 10th century – Medieval Latin bausiator is recorded in Ratherius.[3]
  • 1268 – Andrea da Grosseto uses bugiardo.[2][11]
  • 13th century – Gerardo Patecchio has the northern bogiadro.[3]
  • 13th century – The Fiore di virtù uses bugiardo as a noun.[3]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “vain, deceptive”.[3]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for “false, mendacious”.[3]
  • Before 1596 – English bugiard is recorded.[15]
  • Before 1742 – Bugiarderia “lie” is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. lying, that tells lies, habitually or on one occasion: Non fidarti di lui, è un ragazzo bugiardo.[5][8][16][1]
  2. False, untrue: promesse bugiarde.[5][8][16][11]
  3. (literary) Deceptive, illusory.[5][8][11]
  4. (sport) Of a result, not reflecting how the game went.[8][11]
  5. (archaic) Disloyal, treacherous.[5][16]

Noun

  1. liar: Sei proprio una bugiarda, lo sapevi già.[5][8][16][1]

Word family

  • sbugiardare
  • bugiarderia
  • bugiardaggine
  • bugiardamente
  • bugiardino

Usage notes

Dare del bugiardo a qualcuno is to call someone a liar.[5][8][16] A proverb says il bugiardo deve avere buona memoria, the liar needs a good memory not to contradict himself.[4][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  12. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  13. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 630
  14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  16. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse