sforzo

Forms

sforzo m (plural sforzi)^[1]

Etymology

In its main sense, “effort”, it is from Italian sforzare (“to force, strain”), formed without a suffix.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary also allows the pronominal sforzarsi, “to strain oneself”, as the base.^[1] The verb is forzare with the intensive prefix s-.^[2][3] Wiktionary adds that it may continue Vulgar Latin *exfortiō, from Latin fortis (“strong”).^[1] The same formation gave French effort, Spanish esfuerzo, Catalan esforç and Portuguese esforço.^[1]

The older literary sense “army” is derived instead from forza with the same prefix.^[4][6][7] GRADIT compares Old French esfort, recorded from the 11th century, and the GDLI points to the Old French word for this sense in particular.^[4][8] The DEI and GRADIT treat the two senses as separate words, while DELI and the GDLI keep them under one entry.^[9][4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the sense “army”, at the end of the 13th century in the Novellino.^[2] The sense “use of extraordinary physical or mental force” follows in Dino Compagni (1310–1312).^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The phrase fare sforzo, “to gather an army”, was used by Marco Polo, Boccaccio and Giovanni Villani.^[9][7] Tasso still wrote sì grande sforzo of a great army, and Carducci revived the sense, but it is now only literary.^[7][10]

The main sense covered both bodily and mental exertion from the start, and old texts used dare sforzo or fare sforzo with a purpose clause.^[8] Tommaseo's dictionary described the effort seen in the muscles and the face.^[11] Old and dialect forms include sforgo, sforso and sforzio, and an old plural le sforza.^[8]

Modern technical senses grew from it: in mechanics, the stress produced in structures and machines by outside loads, and in medicine, strain injuries and exercise tests (prove da sforzo).^[9][7] The ironic bello sforzo! mocks a feat that cost no effort at all.^[4][10]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses sforzo for an army.^[2]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses it for an exertion of force.^[2][4]
• 14th century – Petrarch uses the word, and Marco Polo, Dino Compagni and Giovanni Villani use the military sense.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. An effort: the use of more strength or resources than usual, especially to reach a goal: sforzo fisico, sforzo mentale.^[4][6] Con sforzo means with difficulty, senza sforzo easily.^[4][6][10]
2. (ironic) An action that needs no effort at all, in phrases such as bello sforzo! and che sforzo!.^[4][10][12]
3. (medicine) Muscular work kept up without rest after fatigue sets in; strain: lesione da sforzo.^[4][7]
4. (mechanics) Stress: the load applied from outside on a solid or a machine part: sforzo di trazione.^[4][13][14]
5. (fencing) An action that pushes the opponent's blade as far as possible from the line of attack.^[4][13]
6. (literary, archaic) An army: fare sforzo, to gather an army.^{[4][6][10][12]}

Word family

• contrasforzo
• controsforzo
• risforzo
• sforzoso

Related words

• sforzare
• forza
• forzare
• French effort

Usage notes

The dictionaries give sforzo “army” its own headword (GRADIT's sforzo 2, Zingarelli's sforzo 2), as a word formed on forza rather than on the verb.^[4][10][7] The diminutives sforzetto and sforzuccio are mostly playful.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ 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, 928
9. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3479
10. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli