calzatura

Forms

calzatura f (plural calzature)^[1] The Old Cremonese form is Old Italian calçadhura.^[2][3] Dialect forms include Emilian calzadùra at Parma and Bologna, Romagnol calzadura at Faenza and Venetian calsadúra at Vicenza.^[4]

Etymology

It is from Italian calzare + -tura, from the verb meaning “to put on shoes”.^[5][6][7][8] The LEI lists it among the derivatives of Latin calceāre (“to put on shoes”).^[4] Wiktionary instead derives it from calceātūra, with the Italian verb and suffix as the surface analysis.^[1]

The verb itself continues that Latin verb, from calceus (“shoe”), which comes from calx (“heel”).^[9][5] The Latin verb continues throughout Romance: French chausser, Occitan causar, Catalan calçar, Spanish calzar, Portuguese calçar and Romanian încălța.^[9][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Old Cremonese calçadhura in Ugo di Perso, in the early 13th century, meaning “what is put on the foot or leg, a shoe or stocking”, or the act of putting it on.^[2][4] In Tuscan Italian DELI dates the word, in the sense “any kind or shape of shoe”, to before 1698 in Francesco Redi.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Redi wrote that lymph cannot reach the legs when it is blocked by medicines or by tight calzature.^[10] Tommaseo defined it as the manner, shape or material of footwear, and Foscolo used the singular collectively for the footwear of soldiers, beside their linen.^[11][10]

Today the word is used mostly in the plural for shoes of every kind, especially as goods in trade.^[6][12] It produced the trade words calzaturificio, which Panzini's dictionary of 1905 still called a short-lived Milanese word, though the remark was dropped in 1918, and calzaturiero.^[5][9]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Ugo di Perso uses Cremonese calçadhura.^[2]
• Before 1698 – Francesco Redi uses calzatura in Tuscan Italian.^[5][6]
• 1905 – Calzaturificio “shoe factory” is recorded.^[9][5]
• 1963 – The adjective calzaturiero is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mostly in the plural) footwear: any kind of shoe: un negozio di calzature.^{[6][8][12][1]}
2. (uncommon) Anything that covers and protects the foot and also the leg.^[7][12]

Word family

• calzaturiere
• calzaturiero
• calzaturificio

Related words

• calza
• scarpa
• Latin calceus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
4. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 9, 1017
5. ^ a b c d e f 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)