pozzo

Forms

pozzo m (plural pozzi)^[1] An old feminine plural le pozzora is recorded beside pozzi.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin puteus (“pit, hole; well”), which meant first a pit and then a well.^[4][5][6][1] Devoto starts from Vulgar Latin *putjus, and Medieval Latin puzum is recorded in Calabria in 1099.^[7][4] The word is pan-Romance: French puits, Occitan potz, Catalan pou, Spanish pozo, Portuguese poço, Sardinian puttu and Romanian puț.^[5][8] In imperial times the Latin word was borrowed into Germanic, giving Old High German pfuzzi (modern German Pfütze “puddle”) and Old English pyt (English pit).^[5]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[4] Nocentini thinks it probably belongs with putō (“to clean, prune; to cut”), so that it first meant a drainage pit or a dug pit.^[5] De Vaan notes that its short ⟨u⟩ rules out a derivation from paviō (“to strike”), finds the link with the verb for pruning semantically weak, and suggests a loanword.^[9] Wiktionary connects it with Proto-Indo-European *pēu- (“to cut, strike”).^[1] Devoto finds no reliable root but compares its formation with balteus and pluteus, and the GDLI reports DEI's view that it is a relic of a Mediterranean substrate.^[7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Medieval Latin puzum is recorded in Calabria in 1099.^[4] In Italian the word first appears before 1292 in B. Giamboni, meaning a very deep hole or cavity, and before 1300 in Rustico di Filippo as a well dug to reach water.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

Dante calls the wide central pit of Malebolge, at the bottom of Hell, a pozzo: Nel dritto mezzo del campo maligno / vaneggia un pozzo assai largo e profondo (“In the very middle of the evil field yawns a well, very wide and deep”, Inferno XVIII).^[10] Boccaccio's Decameron describes gardens con pozzi d'acque freschissime, “with wells of very fresh water”.^[2] The derivative pozza “pool, puddle” is recorded before 1313, and pozzo nero “cesspit” from the 15th century.^[5]

The figurative sense “a very large quantity” is recorded before 1502 in A. Cammelli.^[4] From it come the colloquial adverb un pozzo “a lot” and phrases such as un pozzo di soldi and pozzo di scienza, a very learned person.^[6][10][11] Pozzo di san Patrizio, a bottomless source of wealth, goes back to a 6th-century legend in which Saint Patrick opened a miraculous cave or well leading to the other world, as Panzini explained in 1905.^[4][11] Treccani links the phrase instead to the great well built for Clement VII at Orvieto.^[12] Modern technical uses include mine shafts and oil wells, an opening in a ship's deck, and in canasta the discard pile.^[6][13][10]

Timeline

• 1099 – Medieval Latin puzum is recorded in Calabria.^[4]
• Before 1292 – B. Giamboni uses pozzo for a deep hole or cavity.^[4][5][6]
• Before 1300 – Rustico di Filippo uses pozzo for a water well.^[4]
• Before 1313 – The derivative pozza is recorded.^[5]
• 1400s – Pozzo nero “cesspit” is recorded.^[5]
• Before 1502 – A. Cammelli uses pozzo for a very large quantity.^[4]
• 1905 – Panzini explains pozzo di san Patrizio by the legend of Saint Patrick.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A well: a vertical shaft, usually round and lined with stone or brick, dug into the ground to reach water.^[6][11][13]
2. The wellhead, the low wall built round the mouth of a well.^[6][11]
3. A narrow, deep shaft for working underground deposits: a mine shaft, an oil well (pozzo petrolifero).^[6][14]
4. A deep natural cavity in the ground, a pit: pozzo carsico, a sinkhole.^[6][13]
5. (figurative) A state of deep anguish or of an overwhelming feeling.^[6]
6. (figurative, colloquial) A huge quantity;^[6][10][13] un pozzo as an adverb: a lot, very much.^[6][10][13]
7. (nautical) A housing that breaks the continuity of a ship's deck: pozzo delle catene, the chain locker.^[6][13][14]
8. (card games) In canasta, the discard pile.^[6][10]

Word family

• pozza
• pozzetto
• pozzino
• pozzanghera
• avampozzo
• pozzale

Related words

• Latin puteus
• French puits

Usage notes

Common phrases include pozzo nero (cesspit), pozzo artesiano (artesian well), pozzo senza fondo (an insatiable person) and mostrare la luna nel pozzo (to make someone believe the impossible).^{[6][11][14][10]}

The noun has a closed /o/;^[1] pozzo with an open /ɔ/ is also an old variant of posso, “I can”, from Vulgar Latin *poteō.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
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 g h i j k l 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 e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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)
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli