Etymologically
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forza

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈfɔr.t͡sa/[1]

Forms

forza f (plural forze)[1] Old forms include força, forsa and forcia.[2] The form forsa was also literary and dialectal.[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin fortia (“strength”), the neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong”), “the strong things”, understood as a feminine singular.[4][5][6][7][1] The Late Latin word is first found in Commodian, in the 3rd century.[8][9][3] Wiktionary traces it to phrases such as ⟨fortia facta⟩ “brave deeds”.[1]

The same word is French force, Occitan forsa, Spanish fuerza and Portuguese força.[4][10] It was borrowed into Insular Celtic and German.[8] Italian passed it on to the Arabic of Syria and Palestine,[8] and to Albanian forcë, Romanian forță and Serbo-Croatian forca.[1]

The adjective had an Old Latin form ⟨forctus⟩, and its origin is uncertain: de Vaan weighs a link with farciō (“to stuff”) and one with a root meaning “to make firm”.[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Proverbia que dicuntur, a Venetian poem of the late 12th century.[2] DELI's earliest dates are from Bono Giamboni, before 1292, for physical strength, moral energy and a body of soldiers.[12]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian forza could also mean dominion, jurisdiction and rape.[8] The forces of nature appear in Arrigo Simintendi (before 1333).[12] Physics later gave it its sense of a cause that changes the motion of a body.[7][13]

Modern phrases include per forza “necessarily, unwillingly”, a forza di “by dint of”, bella forza! (ironic: “big deal!”) and forze armate “armed forces”;[5][14][4] bassa forza for the rank and file is recorded from 1886.[5][14][4] As an interjection, forza! urges someone on.[5][1]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur use the word.[2]
  • 13th century – Forzato and rinforzare are first recorded.[4]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses forza for strength and for troops.[12]
  • Before 1333 – Arrigo Simintendi uses it for the forces of nature.[12]
  • 1886 – Bassa forza “rank and file” is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Physical strength: Gli manca la forza per sollevare la valigia.[5][6][14]
  2. Moral strength, courage: forza d'animo.[5][6][14]
  3. Violence, coercion: Lo hanno fatto entrare con la forza.[6][13]
  4. (physics) force, a cause that changes a body's state of rest or motion.[7][13]
  5. Power, effectiveness: la forza dell'abitudine.[6][15]
  6. (often in the plural) Armed troops: le forze armate, le forze dell'ordine.[5][13]

Interjection

  1. Come on!, keep going!: Forza, ragazzi, manca poco![5][1]

Word family

  • forzare
  • forzato
  • forzatura
  • forziere
  • forzoso
  • forzuto
  • rafforzare
  • rafforzamento
  • rinforzare
  • rinforzo
  • sforzare
  • sforzo

Usage notes

Per forza means both “necessarily” and “against one's will”;[14][5] a forza di means “by dint of”.[14][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  4. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  7. ^ a b c 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 c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1695
  9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  12. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli