Etymologically
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spesa

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈspe.za/, /ˈspe.sa/[1]

Forms

spesa f (plural spese)[1] Old northern forms include Old Italian spexe (plural, Genoa), Old Italian spexa (Bologna) and Old Italian spisa (Milan).[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin expēnsa (“(money) spent”), short for a phrase with pecūnia (“money”): the feminine past participle of Latin expendō (“to weigh out, pay”), used as a noun.[3][4][5][6] Classical Latin already used the noun for a sum of money.[2] The Italian form shows the popular development of ⟨ns⟩ to ⟨s⟩ and the loss of the initial vowel; such popular continuations are rare elsewhere in Romance, among them Friulian spese and Old French espoise.[2][1] Compare also Sicilian spisa, Venetian spexa and Piedmontese spèisa.[1]

In the language of monasteries the Latin word came to mean “provisions, food”, and in that sense it passed into Old High German spīsa, today German Speise.[2][7] The LEI leaves open whether the Italian sense “food, provisions” was taken back from German or grew up the same way in Italy.[2]

The Latin verb is pendō (“to weigh, pay”) with ex-; its sense developed from “to hang” to “to weigh out” and then “to pay”.[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the Ricordi di una famiglia senese (1231–1262), for buying, in particular the daily buying of food for a household.[3] The sense “expense, money spent” is in Giacomo da Lentini (before 1250), who mocks anyone who thinks he can spend “d'altrui borsa”, from another man's purse.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Northern texts have the word early: Bologna about 1243 and Chioggia in 1275, and Dante uses it for public or private expenditure in the Convivio (1304–1307).[2] The phrase alle spese di is in the Novellino and a spese di in Boccaccio, who also uses it for “to one's own cost”.[3] Later come spesare, to keep someone at one's expense (1503), and stare sulle spese, to live away from home at one's own cost (before 1742).[3]

In everyday modern Italian fare la spesa is to do the grocery shopping, and la spesa is also the shopping itself.[5][9] Economics speaks of spesa pubblica, public expenditure,[10][11] and a proverb says è più la spesa che l'impresa, the effort is not worth the result.[10][11] German borrowed the plural from Italian merchants as Spesen, “expenses” (from 1423–1424).[12]

Timeline

  • 1231–1262 – Spesa “purchase” appears in the Ricordi di una famiglia senese.[3]
  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses it for “expense”.[3]
  • c. 1243 – The form spesa is recorded at Bologna.[2]
  • 1304–1307 – Dante uses it in the Convivio.[2]
  • 1353 – Boccaccio uses a spese di.[3]
  • 1423–1424 – German Spesen is first recorded.[12]
  • 1503 – Spesare is recorded.[3]
  • Before 1742 – Stare sulle spese is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. expense, expenditure; the money spent on something: La spesa per il viaggio è stata più alta del previsto.[9][5][13]
  2. A purchase: Quella lavatrice è stata una spesa sensata.[9][5][13]
  3. The shopping for food and household needs: Il sabato faccio la spesa al mercato.[9][5][13]
  4. The groceries bought: Mi aiuti a portare su la spesa?[9][5][1]
  5. (plural) Costs, charges: Le spese di trasporto sono comprese.[5][13]
  6. (figurative) The use of time, effort or resources.[9]

Word family

  • spesare
  • spesato
  • spendere
  • Latin expensa
  • German Speise

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include a spese di, at someone's expense (also figuratively, to someone's cost), fare le spese di, to pay for something in the sense of suffering its consequences, and non badare a spese, to spare no expense.[9][10][14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 22, 720
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3587
  8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  9. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  10. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  13. ^ a b c d 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