pressa

Forms

pressa f (plural presse)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian pressare (“to press hard”), a deverbal noun with no suffix.^[2][3][4][5] The verb is a learned borrowing of Latin pressāre, from pressus, the past participle of premō (“to press”).^[2]

Nocentini instead derives the senses “crowd” and “haste” from Latin pressa, formed on the same past participle, and gives as cognates Occitan presa, Catalan pressa, Spanish prisa and Portuguese pressa.^[6] For the machine he sees a loan from French presse, the noun of presser (“to compress”), which also gave German Presse and the English word press.^[6] DELI calls the machine sense a calque on the French word, recorded from the end of the 11th century, and Treccani speaks of French influence on that sense.^[2][7] DEI dates the French word to the 12th century in the sense “action of pressing” and to the 14th in the sense “printing press”.^[8]

The form Spanish prensa has the nasal of the Latin verb.^[8] It is the source of Sicilian prenza (“wine press”), recorded in the 16th century.^[8] GDLI compares the same French and Spanish words.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the 13th-century Anonimo Senese, with the sense “throng, crush of people”.^[2] GDLI quotes the passage: those going to the grave had to force their way through la pressa che v’era (“the crowd that was there”).^[9]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word meant a crowd pressing round a place or a person, and also haste: Bonvesin de la Riva has im presa before 1315, and Fazio degli Uberti in pressa “in a hurry” in 1346–1367.^[2] Dante uses fare pressa for pressing someone with requests (a cui porge la man, più non fa pressa).^[3][4] Both senses are now literary or old, and “haste” survives in regional use (far pressa, to hurry someone).^[5][7][10]

The machine appears in 1582 in Giordano Bruno's Candelaio as a hatters' press.^[2] In 1853 Carena described the bookbinders' press and noted that Tuscan binders used the word “taken, as it seems, from French”.^[2] Tommaseo in 1871 has an ironing press of the same kind, and DEI dates the mechanical sense to that year.^[2][8] In industry the word now names the large machines that shape metal and other materials by pressure (pressa idraulica), and by extension, in the plural, the press shop of a factory.^[3][11]

Timeline

• 1200s – The Anonimo Senese has pressa “crowd”.^[2]
• Before 1315 – Bonvesin de la Riva writes im presa “in haste”.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the word for the act of pressing.^[2]
• 1346–1367 – In pressa “in a hurry” in Fazio degli Uberti.^[2]
• 1582 – A hatters' press in Giordano Bruno's Candelaio.^[2]
• 1853 – Carena describes the bookbinders' press.^[2]
• 1871 – Tommaseo records the ironing press.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (technology) A press: a machine that exerts very strong pressure on a material to shape, flatten or compress it: la pressa idraulica.^{[3][4][5][11]}
2. By extension, chiefly in the plural, the press shop of a factory.^[3]
3. (literary or archaic) A throng, a crowd of people pressing together.^{[3][4][5][11]}
4. (literary, regional) Haste, hurry: non abbiamo pressa.^{[3][4][7][10]}
5. (archaic) An insistent request, pressure put on someone.^[3][11]
6. The act of pressing or being pressed.^[3][10]

Word family

• pressaforaggio

Related words

• pressare
• premere
• French presse

Usage notes

Fare pressa (or mettere pressa) a qualcuno means to hurry someone or to press them for something.^[7][10] GDLI has a separate pressa for the forced recruitment of sailors in England, taken from English press.^[12] Pressa is also a form of the verb pressare (“he or she presses”).^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ 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)
8. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3070
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 250
10. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 251