storcere

Forms

storcere (first-person singular present stòrco, first-person singular past historic stòrsi, past participle stòrto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin extorqueō (“to wrench out; to dislocate, sprain”), moved from the conjugation in ⟨-ēre⟩ to the one in ⟨-ere⟩, from ex- and torqueō (“to twist”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Wiktionary sets up the changed form as Vulgar Latin *extorcere.^[1] It is the popular word beside the learned estorcere, from the same Latin verb.^[6][1][2] The GDLI also allows that it may be formed in Italian from torcere with an intensive prefix.^[8]

The same Latin verb gave Old French estordre, Occitan estorcer, Spanish estorcer and Romanian stoarce (“to squeeze out”).^[3][9]

De Vaan explains the Latin verb as an old causative from the root Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to twist, turn”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is recorded before 1313 in the sense “to bend, twist out of shape”.^[4][3][11] In Dante's Inferno (before 1321) it means to twist violently: Per che lo spirto tutti storse i piedi (“so that the spirit twisted both his feet”).^[2][12][13]

Semantic evolution

In the Inferno Dante also has the reflexive, of Brutus in Lucifer's mouth: Vedi come si storce, e non fa motto! (“See how he writhes, and says not a word!”).^[14][13] Boccaccio's Martellino twists his hands, fingers, arms, legs and face to pass for a cripple.^[8][13] Petrarch uses it figuratively, of desire that leads him off the straight path.^[4]

The sense “to give words another meaning” is recorded before 1565 in Benedetto Varchi, and the reflexive “to writhe, wriggle” in Manzoni's I promessi sposi (1825–1827).^[2] The past participle storto became an adjective “crooked” in the 14th century, and storta meant a sprain from the 14th century and a retort (the vessel) from the 16th.^[3]

Two minor uses are now obsolete: “to untwist a rope”, with a privative prefix, and “to extort a confession”, a shortened estorcere.^[15] In Tuscan slang the verb can mean to provoke someone until they lose their temper.^[11]

Timeline

• Before 1313 – The verb is first recorded.^[4][3][11]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for twisting violently.^[2]
• 14th century – Storto “crooked” and storta “sprain” are recorded.^[3]
• Before 1565 – Benedetto Varchi uses it for distorting a meaning.^[2]
• 16th century – Storta is used for the retort.^[3]
• 1825–1827 – Manzoni uses storcersi “to writhe”.^[2]
• Before 1832 – Stortura is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To twist or bend something hard, out of its normal shape: Il vento ha storto l'antenna sul tetto.^{[4][11][16][17]}
2. (transitive, usually pronominal) To twist a limb so as to sprain it: Scendendo dal treno si è storto il polso.^{[11][16][14][1]}
3. (transitive) In storcere il naso, la bocca, le labbra, il muso: to pull a face in disgust or disapproval.^{[4][16][14][6]}
4. (transitive, figurative) To distort, to give words a meaning they don't have: Ha storto il senso dell'intervista.^{[4][11][6][17]}
5. (transitive, literary) To lead away from the right path.^[4][11]
6. (reflexive, storcersi) To writhe, to twist about, as in pain.^{[16][6][14][17]}
7. (pronominal, storcersi) Of a thing, to get bent out of shape.^[16][6][17]

Word family

• storto
• storta
• stortura
• storcimento
• storcitura

Related words

• estorcere
• torcere
• distorcere
• Latin extorqueo

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 c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 225
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 226
16. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli