pezzente

Forms

pezzente m or f by sense (plural pezzenti)^[1] The old forms are Old Italian pezente and Old Italian peziente, and Jacopone has a feminine pezzenta.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *petiēns (“asking, begging”), the present participle of a spoken Latin *petīre, which took the place of classical Latin petō (“to ask, seek”).^[4][5][6][7] Battisti and Alessio and Devoto explain the new verb as remade on the past participle petītus.^[8][9]

The word comes from the south.^[8][10][11] Meyer-Lübke and Prati take it from Neapolitan, where the old verb Neapolitan pezzire (“to beg”) is recorded,^[12][13] and Wiktionary and Treccani analyse it as the present participle of that verb.^[1][11] The only Romance match is Portuguese pedinte (“beggar”).^[5][12] The Latin verb itself lives on in Spanish pedir, Portuguese pedir, Sardinian pedire and Romanian peți (“to woo”).^[12] De Vaan explains the Latin verb, first “to make for, reach out for”, from an Indo-European root meaning “to fly”, through “to fly up towards”.^[14] Tommaseo allowed that the word might come instead from clothes in tatters, pezzi.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, from the Marche, of the second half of the 12th century; the sense there is “wretched, like a beggar”.^[15][5] DELI dates the text to the early 13th century, with the sense “living on alms”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

As a noun the word meant “one who begs”.^[15] Jacopone da Todi writes Metteromme a gir pezente / per lo pane ad onne gente (“I will set out to go begging for bread from everyone”).^[2] Old Italian also had andar pezzendo “to go begging”.^[13]

From “beggar” the word passed to anyone in dire poverty, and by hyperbole to a miser or a petty, mean person.^[6][7][16] Pezzenteria “beggarliness” is recorded in 1633.^[4] In history the plural names the Flemish nobles who rose in the 16th century against Philip II and the Spanish Inquisition.^[6]

Timeline

• Second half of the 12th century – The Ritmo di Sant'Alessio has pezente.^[15][5]
• 13th century – Jacopone da Todi uses the word, also in the feminine.^[8][3]
• 1633 – Pezzenteria is first recorded.^[4]
• 17th century – Buonarroti the Younger writes peziente.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A beggar.^[6][17][11]
2. By extension, a person living in extreme poverty: Con quel cappotto sembri un pezzente.^[6][7][10]
3. (hyperbolic, derogatory) A miser, a skinflint.^[6][7][10]
4. A petty, mean person.^[7][16]
5. (history, in the plural) The Gueux, the Flemish nobles who rebelled against Philip II in the 16th century.^[6]

Adjective

1. Beggarly, very poor.^[6][11]

Word family

• pezzenteria
• pezzentismo

Related words

• petizione
• Latin petō

Usage notes

Zingarelli records pezzente also for a Lucanian sausage made from pork offcuts.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 228
3. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e 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. 2888
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 329
10. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 768
14. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
15. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli