sapa

Forms

sapa f (plural sape)^[1] The GDLI also records the northern forms saba and sabba.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sapa (“new wine boiled down”).^{[3][4][5][6][1][7]} In other Romance languages the word means the sap of plants: French sève, Occitan saba, Catalan saba and Spanish saba.^[3][8][7] In Logudorese saba is fruit juice.^[8]

Nocentini, like Sabatini–Coletti and Treccani, connects it with sapiō (“to taste”), and Nocentini compares Old High German saf (“juice”) (modern German Saft) and Old English sæp (“sap”).^[3][9][10] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Italic *sapā and Proto-Indo-European *sab- (“to taste”).^[1] De Vaan finds a derivation from the verb unlikely, because the Germanic and Armenian cognates also mean “sap”.^[11] The alternation between root forms with /p/ and /b/ points to him to a loan from a non-Indo-European language, and he takes the Old English and Dutch words for “sap” as loans from Latin.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Zingarelli date the first record to about 1340, and DEI and Prati name the Italian translation of Palladius among the first texts.^{[4][6][7][12]} There the word is the boiled-down must used to keep fruit: le sorbe si possono lungo tempo serbare nella sapa (“sorb apples can be kept a long time in sapa”).^[2][13]

Semantic evolution

Old recipes and medical texts use sapa as a sweetener and condiment.^[2] Burchiello mocks advice to eat herrings con la sapa, and Ariosto prefers at home a turnip sprinkled di aceto e sapa to the delicacies of another's table.^[2][10] Messisburgo's recipes cook fruit in vin dolce o sabba.^[2] Tommaseo records the proverbs Pepe, noce moscada e sapa, fa buona la rapa and Dolce come la sapa, and an old phrase per sapa “into the bargain”.^[13]

Treccani calls it a condiment of the past that some regions still use.^[10] Devoto–Oli mentions old recipes and the filling of fried tortelli, and Zingarelli its use for mostarde.^[10][5][6] DEI records the derivative sapaio from the 18th century.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1340 – First record.^[4][6]
• 14th century – The Italian translation of Palladius uses the word.^[7][12]
• 18th century – The derivative sapaio is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (cooking) Grape must cooked and concentrated by boiling, used as a condiment and for mostarda: Abbiamo condito le frittelle con un filo di sapa.^{[4][5][9][6][10][14][1]}

Related words

• saba
• Latin sapa
• French sève

Usage notes

In capitals, SAPA is the abbreviation of Società in Accomandita per Azioni, a partnership limited by shares.^[4] The GDLI also lists sapa as a variant of zappa.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 545
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3336
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 872
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli