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schizzare

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word schizzare

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Onomatopoeia
First attested
1320 More words from the 14th century

Pronunciation

  • /skitˈt͡sa.re/[1]

Forms

schizzare (first-person singular present schìzzo, first-person singular past historic schizzài, past participle schizzàto, auxiliary (transitive) avére or (intransitive) èssere)[1]

Etymology

DELI, GRADIT, Treccani and Sabatini–Coletti take it as an onomatopoeic word, and Meyer-Lübke put it under an imitative sound word ⟨skits⟩ “to spurt”.[2][3][4][5][6] Prati and Devoto saw it as imitative too, Devoto linking it to a sound series that also underlies schiacciare.[7][8] Wiktionary adds that it was influenced by Middle High German schiezzen, from Old High German sciozzan (“to shoot”).[1]

Nocentini instead derives it from Vulgar Latin *coactiāre (“to press together”), the source of that verb as well, with dissimilation of the first vowel and ⟨-zz-⟩ as an alternative outcome of ⟨-cti-⟩.[9] Devoto–Oli follows him: the Vulgar Latin verb is a variant of Latin coactāre (“to force”), the frequentative of cōgō (“to compel”), with an intensive s-.[10] The TLIO calls the origin uncertain and the derivation from Vulgar Latin less likely, but notes that the meaning is plainly close to that of the verb for squashing.[11] The LEI, in its article on the Vulgar Latin verb, quotes the doubts of earlier scholars about the link with the Italian verb.[12]

Related forms elsewhere are Sardinian ischizzare “to squash” and Catalan esquitxar “to spray”.[9][6][1] In the north a verb of the same shape means “to squash”: Venetian schizzar, Ligurian schisà and a Modenese form Emilian schizzér;[13] DEI finds a Gothic origin, compared with Old High German sleizzen (“to divide, tear”), unlikely and an imitative origin more probable.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the verb before 1320.[3] The TLIO's first record is the Tuscan Trattato de' falconi of the early 14th century; its oldest senses are to emit a liquid in spurts under pressure, and of birds, to void droppings.[11] DELI's first date is about 1350, in the Italian translation of Crescenzi, for sending out splashes of a liquid.[2]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old Italian the verb was used of things flung upward or driven into something, of a person moving with a sudden start, and of eyes starting from their sockets.[11] Boccaccio has it for jumping out or running away before 1375, and Biringuccio for liquid gushing out before 1537.[2]

The noun schizzo “a splash, a stain left by a splash” is recorded in Boccaccio in 1353.[2] By a transfer from the quick spatter of paint, it came to mean the first rapid drawing of an artist (before 1535, Berni), and the verb followed: Vasari uses schizzare “to sketch” before 1574, and Bellini “to outline in words” before 1835.[2][14] French borrowed the art sense as esquicher (1567), later esquisser, and German as skizzieren (1774); the noun passed into French esquisse and German Skizze.[14][9]

Figurative uses include schizzare veleno or bile, to show spite or envy, and schizzare salute, to look very healthy.[15][4]

Timeline

  • Before 1320 – Schizzare is first recorded.[3]
  • Early 14th century – The Tuscan Trattato de' falconi uses the verb.[11]
  • About 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi uses it for emitting splashes.[2]
  • 1353 – Boccaccio uses schizzo “splash”.[2]
  • Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses schizzare “to jump out, run away”.[2]
  • Before 1519 – Leonardo da Vinci uses schizzatoio, a squirting pump.[2]
  • Before 1535 – Berni uses schizzo for an artist's first sketch.[2]
  • 1567 – French esquicher “to sketch” is recorded.[14]
  • Before 1574 – Vasari uses schizzare “to sketch”.[2][14]
  • 1774 – German skizzieren is recorded.[14]
  • Before 1835 – Bellini uses it for describing in outline.[2]
  • 1872 – Tommaseo–Bellini records “to soil with splashes”.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive) Of a liquid, to spurt or gush out with force: il caffè è schizzato dalla moka.[3][15][1]
  2. (intransitive) Of an object, to be flung out with force, often upward.[3][10]
  3. (intransitive, figurative) Of a person, to jump up suddenly, as in schizzò su dal divano; to dash off.[3][10][5]
  4. (transitive) To squirt a liquid with force.[3][10][1]
  5. (transitive) To splash or spatter, to soil with splashes.[3][15][1]
  6. (transitive, figurative) To show a feeling intensely, as in schizzare veleno.[3][15][4]
  7. (transitive) To sketch, to draw with a few quick strokes.[3][15][1]
  8. (transitive) To outline, to describe in broad terms.[3][15][4]
  9. (vulgar, slang) To ejaculate.[1]

Word family

  • schizzo
  • schizzata
  • schizzatoio
  • schizzetto
  • schizzamento
  • schizzatore
  • rischizzare
  • schizzettare

Usage notes

The intransitive verb takes essere, the transitive avere.[1][15] Old Italian also had a mathematical schizzare or schisare, “to reduce a fraction”, used in a translation of Fibonacci and by Piero della Francesca;[16][11] GDLI takes it as a learned word from Greek “I divide”.[16][11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
  5. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 889
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 393
  9. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  12. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 15, 135
  13. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3392
  14. ^ a b c d e Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  16. ^ 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, 1040
Cite this entry

“Schizzare.” Etymologically, 10 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/schizzare. Accessed 10 Nov. 2026.

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