rottura

Forms

rottura f (plural rotture)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian roctura, roptura, rotura, ruptura and ruttura.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin ruptūra (“breaking; fracture”), formed from ruptus (“broken”), the past participle of rumpō (“to break”).^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Zingarelli calls it a learned word, but DEI counts it among the words found throughout Romance.^[8][9] The same word is Romansh rotüra, Old Occitan rotura, Catalan rotura, Spanish rotura and Portuguese rotura, and French roture, which came to mean land newly cleared for farming; rupture is a later learned form.^[10][11]

The Latin verb continues the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *Hru-n-p- of a root meaning “to break”, *Hreup-, which also gave Old English rēofan (“to break, tear”).^[12]

DEI lists a second headword, from the 14th century, meaning a quarrel between friends, and suggests that it may come from Middle French roupture;^[9][3] DELI keeps it under the one word.^[9][3] The colloquial sense “nuisance” comes from the vulgar use of rompere for “to annoy”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a poem by Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, in the sense “breaking, a break”: Lo foco inchiuso poi passa di fore / lo suo lostrore, sanza far rottura (“The enclosed fire then sends its brightness outside without making any break”).^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In canto 13 of the Inferno Dante uses the plural for the bleeding breaks of a weeping bush: Per le rotture sanguinenti invano (“through its bleeding breaks, in vain”).^[13] Matteo Villani, before 1363, has the word both for the breach of a pact and for a break in relations after a quarrel.^[3] Tommaseo set it between fessura (a crack) and spaccatura (a split) in strength, and recorded the sense “interruption, cessation” in 1872.^[13][3]

Technical senses followed: carico di rottura “breaking load”, the stress at which a material gives way, is recorded in 1931.^[3][14] In medicine the word is the everyday term for a fracture.^[15][5] In meteorology a rottura del tempo is a sudden turn for the worse, and in trotting races it is a horse's break from trot into gallop.^[8][16]

In colloquial and vulgar speech rottura di scatole (and coarser variants) and plain rottura mean a bore or a nuisance.^[15][8] The phrase di rottura describes a work that breaks with tradition and opens new paths.^[14][8]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses rottura for a break.^[3][2]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses it for the breach of a pact and for a rift after a quarrel.^[3]
• 1872 – Tommaseo–Bellini records the sense “interruption, cessation”.^[3]
• 1931 – Carico di rottura “breaking load” appears in the Enciclopedia italiana.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or result of breaking or being broken: la rottura di una bottiglia.^[5][8][6]
2. The broken part or point of something; a crack or break: chiudere la rottura con il silicone.^[5][6][17]
3. A breakdown or failure of a machine or system.^[5][6]
4. (medicine) A fracture; the tearing of a tissue, organ or vessel: rottura della tibia.^[5][6][8]
5. (figurative) The breaking off of a bond, agreement or relationship; a breach of a pact: la rottura delle trattative.^[5][8][17]
6. (figurative) A break with a tradition, especially in art and culture: un film di rottura.^[5][14][8]
7. (colloquial) A nuisance, a bore; a tiresome person: che rottura questo viaggio!^[5][6][8]
8. (horse racing) In trotting races, a sudden change from trot to gallop.^[5][8][16]
9. (agriculture) Broken or faulty grains discarded in rice milling.^[5][15]

Related words

• rompere
• rotto
• Latin ruptura
• French rupture

Usage notes

Rottura di scatole is the euphemistic form of the expression;^[6][14] rottura di palle and rottura di coglioni are vulgar.^[6][14] Rottura del viaggio is the abandonment or interruption of a merchant ship's voyage.^[8][16]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 156
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3289
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 4, 463
14. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse