pezzire

Forms

pezzire (first-person singular present pezzìsco, first-person singular past historic pezzìi, past participle pezzìto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *petīre (“to ask”), the spoken form that replaced classical Latin petere (“to ask, to seek”).^[2][3][1] The same Latin verb gave Spanish pedir, Portuguese pedir and Sardinian pedire, and Old Neapolitan had pezzire.^[4] The Latin verb first meant “to make for, to reach out for”.^[5]

Its present participle is pezzente (“beggar”), which continues a Vulgar Latin *petiĕntem.^[6][7][3] The TLIO explains the ⟨zz⟩ of the gerund and of the participle by a Latin stem extended with ⟨-i-⟩.^[8] The DEI instead takes the verb as a back-formation from the participle, and the GDLI takes it from the Neapolitan verb.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word to the first half of the 14th century.^[2] Its old records are mostly gerunds in the phrase andare pezzendo, “to go begging”.^[8][11] In the Italian version of Guido delle Colonne a character says that he goes begging shamefully from door to door (vergognosamente vado pezzendo da porta in porta).^[10]

Semantic evolution

The verb stayed southern.^[3][11] The GDLI quotes the Neapolitan chronicler De Rosa, who tells of a man who became a friar and went begging out of humility, and of a duke of Egypt begging through Naples with his wife and children.^[10] It also appears in the Cantari cavallereschi (pezendo), in Daniello Bartoli and in Genovesi, who tells of a carpenter who gave up his trade because begging brought him twice as much.^[10][3]

Even in the dictionaries of today it is used almost only in the infinitive and the gerund, while its present participle pezzente became the ordinary word for a beggar.^[12][3] GRADIT marks it as regional.^[2]

Timeline

• First half of the 14th century – The verb is first recorded.^[2]
• Late 13th to 14th century – The TLIO records the gerund pezzendo in andare pezzendo under petere.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, regional, southern Italy) To beg, to ask for alms, chiefly in andare pezzendo.^[2][3][1]

Related words

• pezzente
• petizione
• Latin peto

Usage notes

The verb is used almost only in the infinitive and the gerund.^[12][3] The DEI also gives the sense “to fall into poverty”, from Neapolitan.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2888
10. ^ 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. 13, 230
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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana