storpiare

Forms

storpiare (first-person singular present stórpio or (traditional) stòrpio, first-person singular past historic storpiài, past participle storpiàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][3][4] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli hold that it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *distŭrpiāre, a popular variant of dēturpō (“to disfigure”), from turpis (“ugly, shameful”) with the prefix dis-.^[5][6] This combines Merlo's *extŭrpiāre, formed on a *tŭrpius for the Latin adjective, with Corominas's Old Spanish destorpar from *distŭrpāre.^[5] Devoto, Zingarelli and Gabrielli give the form with the prefix ex-, and Battaglia's dictionary adds that storto influenced the open vowel.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Meyer-Lübke, Battisti–Alessio and the Treccani prefer stuprō (“to defile”), which Meyer-Lübke himself called doubtful.^[11][12][13] Alessio, quoted by DELI, rejected all of these and set up a Vulgar Latin *stroppeāre, adapted from Ancient Greek στροφέω (strophéō, “to twist”), because Tarantino stuercio “botched thing” points to a short /o/ and /pj/.^[2] Körting likewise looked to a Greek source, and the old idea of a *extorpidāre from torpidus is rejected by Meyer-Lübke and Körting.^[14][11]

The related words are Catalan estropejar, Spanish estorpar and Portuguese destorpar.^[11][2] Nocentini and Battisti–Alessio take French estropier (15th century) and estropear from Italian.^[5][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is recorded from the 14th century, at first in the sense “to hinder, thwart”.^[2][5][8] The Fioretti di san Francesco have someone who did not want to disturb Saint Francis while he was praying in the wood (io non l'ho voluto storpiare).^[13]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to cripple, maim” is recorded before 1519 in Leonardo da Vinci, and in 1619 in Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger, who writes of a shoe that cripples a foot.^[3][2][15] Ariosto has a character who wants to be “neither crippled nor dead” (né storpiato né morto).^[10] The figurative “to mispronounce, mangle words” follows in 1666 in Redi, and the reflexive “to become crippled” is recorded in 1960.^[2] The old sense “to hinder” is now archaic.^[6][13]

The derivatives are storpiatura (1598, Florio), storpiamento (1658, Bartoli) and the adjective and noun storpio “cripple” (1677, Bartoli), which is a short form of the past participle.^[2][5] An older storpio “hindrance” is found in Dante.^[12] The popular variant stroppiare (16th century) survives in the proverb il troppo stroppia “too much spoils everything”.^[5][6][8]

Timeline

• Before 1342 – Storpiare is recorded in the sense “to hinder”.^[8]
• Before 1519 – Leonardo da Vinci uses the verb.^[3]
• 16th century – The variant stroppiare appears.^[5][6]
• 1598 – Florio records storpiatura.^[2]
• 1619 – Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger uses storpiare for “to cripple”.^[2]
• 1666 – Redi uses it for “to mispronounce”.^[2]
• 1677 – Bartoli uses storpio “cripple”.^[2]
• 1960 – The reflexive storpiarsi is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cripple, to maim: to deform badly, especially the arms or legs.^[3][6][8]
2. (figurative) To mangle: to pronounce words wrongly; to perform a poem, a song or a piece of music badly.^[3][6][4]
3. (archaic) To hinder, to thwart.^[3][6][13]
4. (intransitive, rare, mostly as stroppiare) To do harm, to be excessive: il troppo stroppia.^[8][6]
5. (pronominal) storpiarsi: to become crippled.^[6][8][4]

Word family

• storpio
• storpiatura
• storpiamento
• storpiatore

Related words

• stroppiare
• turpe
• deturpare
• stuprare
• French estropier

Usage notes

Stroppiare is a popular form with metathesis, attracted by troppo.^[6][5] The first person is stòrpio, and Wiktionary also gives stórpio beside the traditional open vowel.^[8][1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 427
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
10. ^ 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, 239
11. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3643
13. ^ 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)
14. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET