scherzare

Forms

scherzare (first-person singular present schérzo, first-person singular past historic scherzài, past participle scherzàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian ischerzare, Old Italian schirzare and Old Italian squerzare.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Lombardic *skerzōn (“to jump about, make merry”).^{[4][5][6][7][8][1]} It is compared with Middle High German scherzen (“to make merry, hop about”), whence German scherzen (“to joke”);^[5][9][1] Nocentini takes its first sense to have been “to jump”.^[5][9][1] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Germanic *skertaną (“to hop, jump”) and Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerd- (“to dance, jump”), and compares Norwegian skjerta (“to joke”).^[1]

Zaccaria noted that the word has no match in Medieval Latin or the other Romance languages, and that the stem is unknown in Old High German; he thought it came into Italian from Middle High German through medieval contacts with Germans after the year 1000.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Florentine Fiori di filosafi (1271–1275), with the sense “to spend time with others in a playful mood”.^[2] Dante wrote of the sphere “che sempre a guisa di fanciullo scherza” (which always plays like a child), and DELI dates “to play merrily” to Domenico Cavalca (before 1342).^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the verb also meant to move gracefully (a translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi, about 1350) and, from Boccaccio (before 1375), to speak or act without seriousness, to joke and make fun of someone.^[4] Old Italian used it for amorous play too, and for acting rashly at one's own risk.^[2] Franco Sacchetti has the proverbs scherza co' fanti e lascia stare i santi “joke with the servants but leave the saints alone” and non ischerzare coll'orso, se non vogli esser morso “don't play with the bear if you don't want to be bitten”.^[11][12]

The noun scherzo is recorded before 1374 in Petrarch; it meant a nasty trick by 1464 and a lively piece of music by 1765.^[4] In Milan the verb became transitive, “to tease, mock”: Panzini noted in 1905 that the use was common even in schools.^[4][13]

Timeline

• 1271–1275 – The Florentine Fiori di filosafi uses scherzare.^[2]
• 1313–1317 – GRADIT's date of first record.^[6]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for playing merrily.^[4]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses scherzo.^[4]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses it for joking.^[4]
• 1765 – Scherzo names a piece of music.^[4]
• 1898 – Transitive scherzare “to mock” is recorded from Milan.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To joke, to jest, to speak or act without seriousness: Dai, scherzavo: il regalo ti piacerà.^{[6][7][13][9][1]}
2. Of children or young animals, to play merrily: I gattini scherzano con un gomitolo.^[6][13][9]
3. (literary) To move lightly and gracefully: La brezza scherzava tra le foglie.^{[6][9][14][1]}
4. To treat something lightly, to trifle with it: scherzare col fuoco, to play with fire.^[7][9][15]
5. (colloquial, in negative sentences) Not to be outdone; to be serious about something: Anche lui, in cucina, non scherza.^[6][7][14]
6. (regional) Transitive, to tease, mock.^[13][9][4]

Word family

• scherzo
• scherzoso
• scherzosamente
• scherzosità
• scherzevole
• scherzetto
• scherzatore

Related words

• German scherzen

Usage notes

Non scherzo means “I mean it”, and c'è poco da scherzare “this is serious”.^[9][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 972
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
13. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli