cavezza

Forms

cavezza f (plural cavezze)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin capitia, the neuter plural of Latin capitium (“the opening of the tunic through which the head passes”), taken as a feminine singular.^[2][3][1] Capitium is a derivative of caput (“head”).^[2][3][4] The LEI traces all the Latin and Romance senses to an adjective *capitius (“having to do with the head”), of which capitium is the noun found in Varro and Laberius in the first century BC; there are Medieval Latin cabiso in a 10th-century Monza glossary and cavezio at Milan in 1398.^[5]

The word is not Tuscan but comes from the Po valley: its /v/ is the northern voicing of the Latin /p/, and the Tuscan outcome of the same Latin word is capezza.^[2][3][6] The same Latin word gave Old French chevece (“bridle; collar”), Old Occitan cabetz (“neck opening”), Catalan cabeç (“collar of a shirt”), and Spanish cabeza and Portuguese cabeça, both meaning “head”.^[7][5][8] Latin caput continues Proto-Italic *kaput (“head”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's only Old Italian record is in a Sienese statute of 1301–1303, where cavezze seems to name a kind of cloth, a sense it marks as doubtful.^[10] The diminutive cavezzina is in Boccaccio in 1353, and cavezza itself, the halter by which a horse or ox is led or tied to the manger, is first recorded before 1484 by the Piovano Arlotto.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

From the halter the word passed to the hangman's noose, now an obsolete sense, whence also a scoundrel “fit for the noose”, an insult like forca.^[12][4][13] As a figure of restraint it gave the phrases tenere a cavezza “to keep someone on a tight rein”, levare la cavezza “to set someone free” and rompere la cavezza “to throw off all restraint”, which Tommaseo already records with the Tuscan proverb ogni polledro vuol rompere la sua cavezza “every colt wants to break its halter”, said of the follies of youth.^[14][12]

In the northern dialects the word kept the older sense of a head or pillow: Piedmontese, Lombard, Ticinese and Trentino speakers say they “sleep on the cavezza” for lazing about or sleeping soundly.^[5] Fowlers also call cavezza the loop that holds a decoy duck down in the water.^[13]

Timeline

• 1301–1303 – Cavezze appears in a Sienese statute, perhaps for a kind of cloth.^[10]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses the diminutive cavezzina.^[2]
• Before 1484 – The Piovano Arlotto uses cavezza for a halter.^[2][11]
• 1830 – Cavezza “head”, from Spanish, is first recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A halter: the rope or leather strap fitted round the head of a horse, mule or ox to lead it or tie it up: Portò l'asino alla stalla per la cavezza.^[4][13][12]
2. (figurative, literary) A curb, a restraint on someone's freedom.^[13][15][16]
3. (obsolete) A hangman's noose.^[4][13][12]
4. (obsolete, figurative) A scoundrel, a rascal.^[4][13][12]
5. The loop put round the neck of a decoy duck to hold it at the bottom.^[13]

Word family

• cavezzone
• cavezzina
• scavezzare
• scavezzo
• scavezzacollo
• incavezzare
• accavezzare
• cavezzata

Related words

• capezza
• capezzale
• capo
• Latin caput

Usage notes

Capezza is a rarer variant.^[17][18][16] Set phrases include prendere per la cavezza “to force someone's hand”, tenere a cavezza “to hold in subjection”, levare or togliere la cavezza “to set free” and rompere or strappare la cavezza “to go off the rails”.^[4][13][12] A separate, obsolete cavezza “head”, recorded from 1830, was borrowed from cabeza; it survives in the phrase cavezza di moro, a black horse's head.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 11, 98
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
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 c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
18. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse