puzza

Forms

puzza f (plural puzze)^[1] Old forms include puza, pussa and pueza.^[2] Zingarelli also gives an obsolete northern spuzza.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *putia according to Nocentini and Devoto–Oli, a noun formed on Latin pūteō (“to stink”).^[5][6][7] GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti treat it instead as a variant of the masculine puzzo, which goes back to *pūtium from the same verb.^{[8][9][10][5]} The feminine is recorded early in the Medieval Latin of Venice, as ⟨pucia⟩ in 1227.^[10][2] C. Merlo explained the masculine from the first person singular ⟨puteo⟩ of the Latin verb.^[10] Wiktionary suggests a third source, a shortening of Latin pūtidus (“stinking”).^[1]

DEI notes that the masculine and the feminine are mainly central and northern Italian, while the south uses words from fētor and fēteō.^[11] The Latin verb, which also gave Italian putire, has the same root as pūs (“pus”).^[10][5] Its Romance outcomes are French puer, Occitan pudir, Catalan pudir, Sardinian pudire and Romanian puți.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the word to the second half of the 13th century.^[5][8] Iacopone da Todi has it in a list of foul smells: Tutta puza che nel mondo fusse, ensemora adunata “all the stench there might be in the world, gathered together”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian puzza meant a bad smell, and DELI records the sense “filth” in Giordano da Pisa in 1305–06.^[10][2] The GDLI and Tommaseo also give the sense “pus, corrupt matter in a sore”, probably through association with Latin pūs.^[2][12]

In the standard language puzzo has remained the usual word, and the dictionaries mark puzza as literary or regional, especially northern.^{[6][9][3][13]} In colloquial use it can mean a fart.^[6][14] The figurative phrase avere la puzza sotto il naso describes a haughty, disdainful person.^[8][6][3]

Timeline

• 1227 – Medieval Latin ⟨pucia⟩ is recorded at Venice.^[10]
• Second half of the 13th century – Puzza is first recorded in Italian.^[5][8]
• 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses puzza for “filth”.^[10]
• 1437 – Medieval Latin puzola, the polecat named after its smell, appears at Cividale.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stink, stench, bad smell: In cantina c'era una puzza di muffa insopportabile.^[8][6][9][1]
2. (colloquial) A fart.^[6][14]
3. (obsolete) Pus, corrupt matter in a sore.^[12][2]

Word family

• puzzola
• impuzzolire

Related words

• puzzo
• puzzare
• puzzolente
• putire
• Latin pūteō

Usage notes

Avere la puzza sotto il naso or al naso means to be stuck-up, to look down on others.^[8][6][14] Puzza di bruciato, literally “a smell of burning”, is said when something seems suspicious.^[8]

An unrelated old Tuscan puzza meant “chaff” and “a speck, a tiny fragment”; the GDLI compares it with puccia.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
5. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3161
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana