strapazzare

Forms

strapazzare (first-person singular present strapàzzo, first-person singular past historic strapazzài, past participle strapazzàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Older forms include Paduan strapaçà, strapacciare, strapassare and strappazzare.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[5][2][6] GRADIT takes it as perhaps formed from Italian stra- + pazzo + -are, and DEI and Treccani also connect it with pazzo (“mad”).^[7][4][6] Devoto saw a calque on impazzare, with stra- for madness turned outward against someone else, and Devoto–Oli gives the same change of prefix.^[8][9] Meyer-Lübke rejected the link with the adjective for “mad” on grounds of meaning, as well as Caix's derivation from strappare.^[10]

Migliorini and Duro, like Meyer-Lübke, derived it from a Vulgar Latin *patium (“suffering”), from patior (“to suffer”).^[5][10] Nocentini proposes *extra-pactiāre (“to toss about, maltreat”), from *pactiāre (“to press, beat”).^[11][2] DEI found a formation on impingō (“to drive in”) less likely, though it would explain the sense of beaten eggs.^[4][5] Alessio saw a loan from northern dialects, from Emilian stropazá (“to whip”) of Piacenza, from stropa (“withy, whip”), crossed with strapà (“to tear”), and Sabatini–Coletti follow him.^[5][12] DELI concludes that none of these explanations is really convincing.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's only Old Italian record is a Paduan document of about 1379, with the form strapaçà and the sense “to treat without care, to ruin”.^[2] DELI's first Tuscan record is Annibal Caro, before 1566, for “to mistreat”.^[5][13]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century Garzoni wrote strapacciare, which DEI explains as a northern hyperurbanism.^[4] The verb soon covered careless work: “to practise an art badly” is dated before 1665, and the sense “to tire out, overwork” is recorded in the Crusca dictionary of 1735, with the reflexive strapazzarsi “to wear oneself out”.^[13][5] Strapazzo “overwork” dates from 1619 and da strapazzo “for rough everyday use” from 1640.^[5] Strapazzata “harsh scolding” is recorded in Baretti in 1763, and uova strapazzate “scrambled eggs” in the Zingarelli of 1922.^[5]

French took the verb as estrapasser (1611), a riding term for overworking a horse, and as strapasser “to criticize” (1670) and “to paint carelessly” (1684).^[13] German borrowed strapazieren about 1638 and Strapaze in 1734.^[13][4]

Timeline

• c. 1379 – A Paduan document has strapaçà.^[2]
• Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses strapazzare “to mistreat”.^[5]
• 1611 – French estrapasser is recorded.^[13]
• 1619 – Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger uses strapazzo for overwork.^[5]
• c. 1638 – German strapazieren is recorded.^[13]
• 1735 – The Crusca dictionary records the sense “to overwork”.^[5]
• 1763 – Baretti uses strapazzata “scolding”.^[5]
• 1922 – Uova strapazzate is recorded in the Zingarelli dictionary.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To mistreat, especially by scolding harshly or criticizing too severely.^[7][9][6][1]
2. (transitive) To overwork: to tire out a person, an animal or a machine with excessive effort.^{[7][12][6][1]}
3. (transitive) To use something carelessly, to wear it out: Ha strapazzato le scarpe nuove in una settimana.^[7][9][14]
4. (transitive, figurative) To butcher: to perform, translate or read a work badly: strapazzare una sonata.^{[7][9][14][1]}
5. (transitive, sports) To beat heavily, to rout.^[9][1]
6. (transitive, cooking) To scramble an egg: to cook it in a pan, breaking and stirring it.^[7][9][1]
7. (reflexive) strapazzarsi: to overwork oneself, to neglect one's health.^[9][6][14]

Word family

• strapazzo
• strapazzata
• strapazzato
• strapazzoso
• strapazzamento
• strapazzatore
• strapazzone

Related words

• pazzo
• impazzare
• German strapazieren

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3649
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d e f Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli