schiamazzare

Forms

schiamazzare (first-person singular present schiamàzzo, first-person singular past historic schiamazzài, past participle schiamazzàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Tuscan has stiamazzare, recorded from Sacchetti in the second half of the 14th century.^[2][3][4] Dialect forms include Venetian schiamazzar and Sicilian scramazzari.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin exclāmō (“to cry out”) with the intensive and pejorative suffix -azzare, as in svolazzare.^{[5][6][7][8][9]} The Latin verb is formed from ex- and clāmō (“to call, shout”), the source of chiamare.^[10] Wiktionary allows for a Vulgar Latin *exclamitiō in between.^[1]

The Latin verb survives in popular form only in the dialects of central and southern Italy, and probably in Romansh.^[2][11] The learned esclamare is a borrowing of it.^[1][2]

DELI also reports Alessio's view that the family starts from the noun schiamazzo, which he takes from exclāmātiō (“a shout”), so that the verb would be formed on the noun.^[5][1] GRADIT calls the origin uncertain and gives both explanations.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The LEI's first record is in the Florentine poet Rustico Filippi, at the end of the 13th century, for people making a din.^[2] DELI dates the verb from Dante's Convivio (1304–1308), of hens and other fowl.^[5] There Dante advises that laughter should be sanza schiamazzare, come gallina, “without cackling like a hen”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio uses the verb of birds, of little hens that flee from the fox cackling loudly, and Sacchetti of people, who were all a modo delle galline, quando schiamazzono, “like hens when they cackle”.^[9][13] Machiavelli has it for loud protest and abuse.^[2] Varchi distinguished it from stridere: the shrieking that scares birds away against the calling that lures them.^[4]

The figurative sense, of passions that clash in the heart, comes from Manzoni.^[12][14][15] Today the verb is common for both fowl and noisy people.^[12]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Rustico Filippi uses the verb of people.^[2]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses it in the Convivio.^[5][2]
• 1344–1348 – Boccaccio's Ninfale uses it of birds.^[2]
• Before 1400 – Sacchetti uses it of shouting people.^[5]
• 1495 – Machiavelli uses it for loud protest.^[2]
• 1735 – Schiamazzatore enters the Crusca dictionary.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, of hens and other fowl) To cackle, to squawk: Le galline schiamazzavano nel pollaio.^{[12][14][8][16]}
2. (intransitive, of people) To shout, to make a racket: I ragazzi hanno schiamazzato sotto casa fino all'alba.^{[12][14][8][16][1]}
3. (figurative, literary, rare) Of passions or desires, to clash noisily within someone.^[12][14][1]

Word family

• schiamazzo
• schiamazzatore
• schiamazzio

Related words

• esclamare
• chiamare
• Latin exclāmō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 1299
3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 17, 984
10. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3386
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
14. ^ 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
15. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli