buzzo

Forms

buzzo m (plural buzzi)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][3][4][5] DELI places it in a family of Italian words for the belly, mostly dialectal, that had found no plausible explanation.^[6]

For Nocentini and Devoto–Oli it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *būceum (“hollow inside”), a derivative of *būca (“cavity”) (whence buca), with /tts/ as an alternative outcome to /ttʃ/, later voiced to /ddz/.^[7][8][1] Devoto–Oli see this base as a variant of Latin bucca (“mouth”).^[8] The same Vulgar Latin form gave buso.^[7]

Pellegrini proposed instead that the word was extracted from busecchia, “entrails” (14th century, and in Medieval Latin from the 13th), itself held to be Arabic, a colloquial Arabic expression meaning “father of the wineskin”, that is, “big belly”.^[6] The LEI puts the word in the family of a spoken Latin base *bokky- (“to prick, to pierce”), which it derives from the root of Latin pungō (“to prick”).^[9][6] Older views took it from Middle High German butze (“lump”) (Diez, Körting) or compared Catalan butsa (“stomach”) of Majorca, which Meyer-Lübke found phonetically difficult.^[10][11][12] Devoto saw it as a northern word for the belly derived from a word for “hole”.^[13] Zingarelli suggests, doubtfully, an expressive origin.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from the late 15th century, in Avalos, for the belly; in 1797 D'Alberti still called it a low word.^[6] GRADIT dates the word to the end of the 15th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word names the belly and guts of animals, especially birds and fish, and by extension tripe, and in popular speech the human belly, often a big one.^[2][8][15] Tommaseo records empiersi il buzzo, to stuff oneself, used of people who think only of eating, and ha tanto di buzzo, of a fat person, said half jokingly and half in scorn.^[15]

The phrase di buzzo buono, “in earnest, with a will”, was already current in Tommaseo's time.^[15][2] The augmentative buzzone meant “glutton” by 1612 (the first Crusca dictionary) and “paunchy person” by 1797; in hydraulic works it is also a cage of brushwood filled with stones that protects an embankment (1887).^[6]

Timeline

• Late 15th century – Avalos uses buzzo for the belly.^[6]
• 1612 – The Crusca dictionary records buzzone “glutton”.^[6]
• 1695 – The feminine buzzona is recorded at Rome.^[6]
• 1797 – D'Alberti marks buzzo as a low word.^[6]
• 1887 – Buzzone is recorded for a stone-filled cage of brushwood protecting a riverbank.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The belly and innards of animals, especially of birds and fish; by extension, tripe.^[2][8][5][4]
2. (popular) A person's belly, especially a paunch: riempirsi il buzzo, to eat one's fill;^{[2][8][16][4]} mettere su il buzzo, to grow a paunch.^{[2][8][16][4]}

Word family

• buzzone
• sbuzzare
• buzzame

Related words

• busecca
• busecchia
• buca
• buso
• trippa

Usage notes

Di buzzo buono means “in earnest, with commitment”.^[2][8][14]

GRADIT has two further words buzzo.^[2] One is an obsolete northern word for a beehive, recorded before 1342 in Cavalca's Pisan translation of the Dialogues of Saint Gregory, perhaps connected with buso.^[2][17] DEI compares Piedmontese büs and Lombard bisöl “beehive” and does not rule out a link with buccio “bark”, and the LEI files this sense under *bokky- too.^[18][19] The other is a Tuscan adjective, recorded before 1837, of unknown origin: buzzo “sulky, gloomy”, and tempo buzzo, overcast weather that threatens rain.^[2][8][5] Tommaseo thought the adjective might be imitative.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
9. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 6, 572
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 72
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
18. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 646
19. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it