serra

Forms

serra f (plural serre)^[1]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from Italian serrare (“to close, lock”), formed with no suffix.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The modern sense “greenhouse” follows French serre, which has had that sense since 1660 and is itself a noun from serrer (“to press, close”).^[2][7][8] The Treccani dictionary adds that the French model made the word replace the older Italian word stufa for the building.^[9]

The verb goes back to a Vulgar Latin *serrāre, a form of Late Latin serāre (“to bolt, close”), which is formed on Latin sera (“bar, bolt of a door”).^[3][2] DELI and Meyer-Lübke explain the double ⟨rr⟩ as an influence of ferrum (“iron”).^[2][8] Nocentini notes that the Latin noun first meant a wooden bar laid across a door, and he places it in the family of serere (“to join in a row”).^[3] The verb is the same as the French one and Occitan serrar, while Spanish cerrar and Portuguese cerrar have an initial ⟨c⟩.^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is recorded before 1294 in the sense “enclosed place”.^[4][10] Battisti and Alessio date to the 13th century, in Guittone d'Arezzo, a sense “narrow place, enclosure”.^[11] Tommaseo quotes Guittone's line vostra terra / fosse in alcuna serra / de le grande alpi (“that your land were in some narrow place of the great Alps”) under this word, while the GDLI files the same line under serra “mountain ridge”.^[12][13]

Semantic evolution

From the enclosed place the word came to name a barrier: in the 14th century Pucci uses it for a barricade or stockade, as in Ad ogni canto fecero una serra (“at every corner they made a barricade”).^[11][12] In hydraulic engineering a serra is a weir of posts and planks across a stream that slows the current, a sense still used for a check dam.^[13][9][5] A crowd pressed together was a serra as well (Sacchetti, 14th century, “tumult”, Varchi, 16th century, “throng”), and Pulci has far … tal serra for pressing hard on an enemy.^[11][9] In Tuscany the word still names the waistband of trousers or underpants, the part that fastens them at the waist, recorded from the 17th century.^[11][14]

The sense “greenhouse” came from French in the early 19th century, first recorded in 1812.^[2] Carena still noted that the large orangeries were commonly called serre “with a French word”.^[13] The phrase effetto serra (“greenhouse effect”) and the appositive gas serra (“greenhouse gas”) belong to modern ecology, and fiore di serra (“hothouse flower”) is said of a delicate person or beauty.^[5][9][15] Turkish borrowed the word as sera.^[1]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Serra “enclosed place” is first recorded.^[4][10]
• 14th century – Pucci uses serra for a barricade.^[11][12]
• 14th century – Sacchetti uses it for a tumult.^[11]
• 16th century – Varchi uses it for a throng of people.^[11]
• 17th century – The sense “waistband of trousers” is recorded.^[11]
• 1660 – French serre is recorded in the sense “greenhouse”.^[2]
• 1812 – The sense “greenhouse” appears in Italian, in Bernardoni.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A greenhouse or glasshouse: a building with walls and roof of glass or plastic, often heated, where plants are grown under controlled conditions: Le orchidee crescono in una serra riscaldata.^{[4][5][14][1]}
2. (ecology, in apposition) In effetto serra, the greenhouse effect, and gas serra, a greenhouse gas.^[5][15]
3. (figurative) In fiore di serra, a delicate person, or a fragile beauty to be treated with great care.^[5][9][10]
4. (hydraulics) An artificial barrier across a watercourse, a weir or check dam; the same as briglia.^[4][5][14]
5. (Tuscany) The waistband of trousers or underpants.^[4][14][10]
6. (archaic) An enclosed place; a shelter or barrier.^[4][5][9]
7. (archaic) A throng, a crowd pressing together.^[4][5][10]

Word family

• serretta

Related words

• serrare
• serratura
• serranda
• stufa
• French serre

Usage notes

A different word serra, “mountain ridge”, a long chain of mountains without deep gaps, comes from Latin serra (“saw”), after the toothed outline of the peaks.^[2][3][15] It is recorded in the 13th century, in Leonardo del Guallacca, and Medieval Latin has serram montis in 953; the metaphor is already Late Latin and is found in Occitan serra, Catalan serra, Spanish sierra and Portuguese serra.^[2][3] Today it is mostly a regional and technical word, used in the western Alps for spurs that branch off the main ridges, and frequent in place names, in Tuscany from 974.^[9][16] The Latin word itself survived as an obsolete serra “saw”, and gives the name of the pesce serra, the bluefish.^[4][9]

Serra is also a form of the verb serrare, and the reduplicated imperative serra serra is used as a noun for a disorderly crush of people.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3462
12. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18, 745
14. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3463
17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana