sansa

Forms

sansa f (plural sanse)^[1] An old variant, found in Pisa and Arezzo, was sansena.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sampsa (“crushed olive pulp”), also spelled ⟨sansa⟩ and ⟨samsa⟩.^{[4][5][6][1][7][8]} Columella used the Latin word for the pulp of olives crushed and kept.^[9][5]

The origin of the Latin word is unknown.^[4][6][8] Nocentini finds no comparison outside Latin, and Battisti and Alessio call it obscure and not Indo-European.^[5][2] Devoto–Oli, the Zingarelli and the GDLI call its origin uncertain.^[10][11][7]

Outside Italy it survives in Catalan sansa and in Aragonese.^[5][3][2] Meyer-Lübke and Battisti–Alessio add a derivative of Arezzo, sansena, and doubtfully Corsican risanza.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Italian version of Marco Polo, from the first half of the 14th century, for the residue left when olives are ground and pressed.^[4] The Italian translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi has the olive tree spring from il nocciolo della sansa uscita del suo olio, “the stone of the pomace drained of its oil”.^[7][9]

Semantic evolution

From the 16th century the pomace was pressed again for more oil and used as fuel and feed: Tanaglia's verses describe heaping it up, warming it and taking it back to the press.^[7] A sansaio is a store for pomace, recorded in the 19th century, and sansino is pomace ground and pressed a second time.^[2][12]

In 1787 Lastri used sansa for the thin inner skin of chestnuts, and Tommaseo records the word among chestnut sellers for the broken husks of cleaned chestnuts.^[2][9] Modern technical language has olio di sansa, oil extracted from pomace with solvents and fit to eat only after refining.^[10][13]

Timeline

• First half of the 14th century – The Italian version of Marco Polo gives the first record.^[4]
• 14th century – The Italian translation of Crescenzi uses the word.^[2][7]
• 1787 – Lastri uses sansa for the skin of chestnuts.^[2]
• 1959 – A homonym sansa for an African musical instrument is first recorded.^[6][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Olive pomace: the pressed stones, skins and pulp left after olives are pressed, used for further oil extraction, as animal fodder or as fuel.^{[6][10][14][13]}
2. (dated, regional) The thin skin or broken husks of chestnuts.^[2][9]

Word family

• sansaio
• sansino
• sansificio

Usage notes

A separate sansa (also sanza), recorded from 1959, is the mbira, an African instrument of metal or cane tongues fixed to a board and plucked with the fingers; it comes from Arabic صَنْج (ṣanj, “cymbal”), which GRADIT and the Treccani trace further to Persian.^{[6][10][14][13][1]}

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3333
3. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ a b c d 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 525
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
13. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse