Etymologically
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pezzo

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈpɛt.t͡so/[1]

Forms

pezzo m (plural pezzi)[1]

Etymology

It is a masculine formed in Italian from pezza “piece of cloth; piece”.[2][3][4][1] Devoto compares the pair ⟨tocco⟩ and ⟨tocca⟩.[5]

The feminine continues Medieval Latin petia (“piece, plot of land”), from Vulgar Latin *pettia, a word of Gaulish origin.[2][3][4] Nocentini points to Welsh peth (“thing”) and Breton pez (“piece”), which allow a Celtic ⟨*pettia⟩ or ⟨*pettis⟩ to be reconstructed; the Medieval Latin word mostly meant “a piece of land”.[2][6] The feminine is found in nearly all the Romance languages: French pièce, Catalan pesa, Spanish pieza, Portuguese peça, and with the sense “meat” Sardinian petta and Romanian pâță in Romanian dialects.[2][6] The masculine is mostly Italian, with Romansh pets (“piece of linen”) in the Engadine.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word to the second half of the 12th century, in the sense “coin”;[4][2] Nocentini also puts it at the end of the 12th century.[4][2] DELI's first record is in Ristoro d'Arezzo in the 13th century, meaning “a piece of solid material broken or cut off from a whole”.[3]

Semantic evolution

From “a piece cut off” the word came to mean any of the parts of a set or machine (15th century), a stretch of space or time (before 1342, Domenico Cavalca), a piece of artillery (1554), a chessman (1587), a passage of music or literature (before 1729, Anton Maria Salvini) and a newspaper article (1918).[3] DEI records pezzo di… followed by an insult from Luigi Pulci in the 15th century.[7] Pezzo duro is a firm ice cream cut in slices;[7] DEI compares a Milanese name for a small hard sorbet recorded in 1897.[7]

Pezzo da novanta “a powerful mafioso” comes from mafia slang and is recorded in 1964.[3] Some say it was named after the largest firework fired at the end of a festival; others think of a 90-millimetre cannon.[3] Many fixed phrases have a figurative sense: essere tutto d'un pezzo “to be upright, incorruptible” (before 1565), fare a pezzi “to tear apart, destroy” and essere a pezzi “to be worn out”.[3][8][9]

Timeline

  • Second half of the 12th century – The word is recorded meaning “coin”.[4]
  • 13th century – Ristoro d'Arezzo uses it for a piece broken off.[3]
  • Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for a stretch of time or space.[3]
  • 1554 – Pietro Cataneo uses it for a piece of artillery.[3]
  • 1587 – Francesco Baldelli uses it for a chessman.[3]
  • Before 1729 – Anton Maria Salvini uses it for a piece of music or writing.[3]
  • 1918 – It is recorded for a newspaper article.[3]
  • 1964 – pezzo da novanta is recorded in a dictionary of criminal slang.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. piece, a bit of a solid material; fragment: un pezzo di formaggio, il vaso è andato in mille pezzi.[4][10][11]
  2. a part of a whole: Mi dai un pezzo di torta?[4][12]
  3. a component of a machine or set; an item in a series: un pezzo di ricambio, un servizio da dodici pezzi.[4][11][8]
  4. a chessman or a piece in a board game.[11][3]
  5. a valuable object in a collection, a work of art or antique.[4]
  6. a piece of music or writing; a track on a record; a newspaper article.[4][11][1]
  7. a stretch of space or time: È un pezzo che non ci vediamo.[11][12]
  8. a coin or banknote of a given value.[4]

Word family

  • pezzetto
  • pezzettino
  • pezzone
  • spezzare
  • spezzettare
  • spezzatino
  • spezzone
  • pezzatura
  • appezzamento

Usage notes

Pezzo grosso is a “big shot”, pezzo di carta a degree or paper qualification valued only for its practical use, and pezzo di pane a very kind person.[8][12][1]

A minor homograph, pezzo “Norway spruce”, is a northern regional word (with a closed /e/) from Latin picea (“spruce”) with a change of gender, the source also of Venetian pezo.[4][9][13][14] GRADIT dates it to the 14th century;[4][7] DEI quotes it from Mattioli in 1544.[4][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2889
  8. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  9. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  12. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 230
  14. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 768