orzare

Forms

orzare (first-person singular present òrzo or órzo, first-person singular past historic orzài, past participle orzàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms are orzar and orzem in Milanese and orsare in older Italian.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Italian orza, the line that hauls a lateen sail to windward and the windward side of a ship, with the verb ending -are.^{[4][5][6][2][7]} The same verb is Catalan orsar and Spanish orzar.^[8][9]

The origin of orza is disputed: DELI starts from unknown origin, while^[4] Pisani and Alessio separately proposed Ancient Greek ὀρθίαξ (orthíax), the foot of the mast, while H. and R. Kahane thought of Ancient Greek ὀρθία (orthía, “upright thing”).^[4] Nocentini, after Castellani, derives the noun from Vulgar Latin *orthia, from ὀρθία (orthía), the feminine of Ancient Greek ὄρθιος (órthios, “straight, upright”), as the “high rope” opposite poggia, the “low rope”; the voiced ⟨z⟩ would come from orzo.^[5][2] Meyer-Lübke tentatively derived the noun from Middle Dutch lurz (“left”), and Körting from Latin *orcea (“jar”).^[8][9] Wiktionary instead traces the verb to Vulgar Latin *ortiāre (“to raise”), from Latin orior (“to rise”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Milanese poems of Bonvesin de la Riva, 13th century, in a figurative context: to turn the bow towards the wind, and hence to direct, to press on.^[2] DELI's first record of the sailing sense is Gabriele Capodilista, before 1477: seguitando lor viagio sempre orzando, “continuing their voyage, always luffing”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Other 15th-century accounts of voyages use the verb for sailing close to a contrary wind: Brasca has sempre orzando stricto per el vento contrario.^[3] John Florio's dictionary of 1598 has it as a transitive verb, to steer the ship towards the wind.^[4] Pantera's treatise on ships paired orzando e poggiando, luffing and bearing away, as the helmsman's two moves, and gave orzeggiare as a synonym.^[10]

Orza! is the command to the helmsman and crew to luff, and orza alla banda! the order to put the tiller hard over to bring the bow into the wind before tacking.^[11][7] The verb is sometimes used of aircraft too.^[11] Straorzare, to luff suddenly and too far, followed in 1814.^[5]

Timeline

• 1200s – Bonvesin de la Riva uses Milanese orzar figuratively.^[2]
• Before 1477 – Gabriele Capodilista uses orzando of a ship.^[4][3]
• 1598 – Florio records the transitive use.^[4]
• 1814 – Straorzare is first recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (nautical, intransitive) To luff: to steer a sailing boat so that its bow turns towards the direction the wind comes from; the opposite of poggiare: la barca orzò per passare la boa.^{[6][12][13][14]}
2. (aeronautics) Of an aircraft: to turn in a similar way.^[11][1]

Word family

• straorzare
• orzeggiare

Related words

• orza
• poggiare
• Spanish orzar

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12
4. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli