cresta

cresta¹ skimming money off shopping

Pronunciation

• /ˈkres.ta/^[1]

Forms

cresta f, only in the phrase fare la cresta^[2][3]

Etymology

The word in the phrase for skimming money off the shopping is from Italian agresto (“verjuice, the juice of unripe grapes”): the phrase is the Roman counterpart of the old far l’agresto, which had the same meaning.^[2][4][5] DELI quotes Prati: in Rome, where the form agrèsta was in use, people said fà la grèsta for stealing on the shopping.^[2][6] The phrase then became common.^[2][2][6] The ⟨a-⟩ of the noun merged with the article, and the form was probably drawn towards cresta “crest”.^[7]

The phrase alludes to a fraud of peasants, who picked part of the grapes before they ripened, pressed them for verjuice or a sour wine and sold it on their own account.^[4][7][5] DELI derives agresto itself from agro (“sour”), reshaped by folk etymology after agreste (“rustic”).^[2]

GRADIT instead takes the word as probably the same as cresta “crest”, in the sense “what sticks out, what is in excess”, and Gabrielli calls its origin uncertain.^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The phrase fare la cresta (sulla spesa) is first recorded in Panzini's dictionary in 1927, for stealing on shopping done for someone else by charging more than was paid.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The older phrase far agresto or far l’agresto meant making an illicit profit, as someone who claims to have spent more on a purchase made for the master and keeps the difference.^[6] The GDLI defines the modern phrase with reference to domestic servants.^[6] Sabatini–Coletti extend it to making an illicit profit on any deal.^[7]

Timeline

• 1927 – Fare la cresta is recorded in Panzini's dictionary.^[2]
• 1952 – GRADIT's date for the word.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Only in the phrase fare la cresta (sulla spesa): to skim money off the shopping one does for someone else, by claiming higher prices than were paid.^[2][3][9]
2. (by extension) In fare la cresta, to make an illicit profit on a deal.^[7]

cresta² crest

Etymology tree of cresta²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin crista

Italian cresta

Spanish cresta

Pronunciation

• /ˈkres.ta/^[1]

Forms

cresta f (plural creste)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the crest is inherited from Latin crĭsta (“crest, tuft”).^[2][4][3][1] The same Latin word gave French crête, Occitan cresta, Catalan cresta, Spanish cresta, Portuguese crista, Sardinian crista and Romanian creastă.^[4][10][11] The Appendix Probi already corrects a spelling ⟨crysta⟩ to ⟨crista⟩.^[11]

The Latin noun shares its stem with crīnis (“hair”) and crispus (“curly”).^[2][4][12] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *kristā- and Proto-Indo-European *kris-th₂-, from a stem *kris- (“crest, plume, hair”).^[12] Wiktionary instead connects it with Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in the TLIO is Bono Giamboni's Florentine translation of Vegetius, before 1292.^[13] DELI dates the comb of the cock to the 14th-century translation of Pietro Ispano, which prescribes anointing the eyelid with the blood of a cock's comb (con sangue di cresta di gallo).^[2][14]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word already named the comb or crest of fowl, fish and snakes, a tuft of feathers, the plume of a helmet and the top of a mountain, and figuratively pride, in alzare or rizzare la cresta “to grow arrogant”.^[13] DELI dates the helmet crest to Ugurgieri, early in the 14th century, and the ridge where two mountain slopes meet to M. Villani, before 1363.^[2]

From the helmet the word passed to women's dress: an old bonnet trimmed with lace and ribbons (before 1708), hence crestaia, a maker of such bonnets and then a milliner (1755), and crestina, the white cap of maids (1923).^[2][15] Modern uses include the crest of a wave, with essere sulla cresta dell'onda “to be riding high”, bony ridges in anatomy, and cresta di gallo, the cockscomb plant.^[16][5][6] In old medicine creste were haemorrhoids, a sense borrowed into English as crestes in 1569.^[17]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni's Vegetius has the word.^[13]
• Early 14th century – Ugurgieri uses it for the crest of a helmet, and crestato “crested”.^[2]
• 14th century – The cock's comb in the translation of Pietro Ispano.^[2]
• Before 1363 – M. Villani uses it for a mountain ridge.^[2]
• 1569 – English crestes “haemorrhoids” is recorded.^[17]
• Before 1708 – L. Adimari uses it for a woman's bonnet.^[2]
• 1755 – Crestaia is recorded.^[2][15]
• 1923 – Crestina is used for a maid's cap.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The red, toothed fleshy comb on the head of fowl; by extension a fleshy growth on the head or back of reptiles and fish, and a tuft of feathers on the head of some birds.^[3][9][16]
2. (colloquial) A raised tuft of hair; a Mohawk haircut.^[3][7][1]
3. (figurative) Pride, arrogance, in alzare la cresta “to grow arrogant” and abbassare la cresta “to be humbled”.^[9][16][18]
4. The foaming top of a wave;^[3][16][18] essere sulla cresta dell'onda, to be at the height of one's success.^[3][16][18]
5. (anatomy) A long narrow ridge on a bone or organ: cresta iliaca.^[3][7][18]
6. (historical) The plume or ridge on top of a helmet.^[3][7][9]
7. (clothing) An old bonnet with lace and ribbons; the small white cap of a maid.^[3][9][16]
8. (geography) The line where two opposite mountain slopes meet; the top line of a ridge.^[3][9][5]
9. The lower outer part of a sabre's scabbard.^[3][9][5]
10. (botany) In cresta di gallo, the cockscomb (Celosia).^[7][16][18]

Word family

• crestaia
• crestato
• crestina
• crestone
• crestella