terrazzo

Forms

terrazzo m (plural terrazzi)^[1] An old spelling is Old Italian terazo.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian terra + -azzo, first meaning a walkable flat space on top of a house.^[3][4][5][2] Devoto–Oli, Sabatini–Coletti, Gabrielli and the Treccani instead derive it from Vulgar Latin *terraceus, an adjective formed from Latin terra (“earth”).^{[6][7][8][9][1]} Devoto explained the ⟨zz⟩ as a Tuscan reshaping of a northern form with /s/.^[10]

The word appears first in the Medieval Latin of Bologna, as terazum in 1285.^[2][11] A parallel formation in Occitan gave French terrasse, which was borrowed as Spanish terraza and Portuguese terraço, and Italian terrazza is in turn from the French word.^[12][13] The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *tersā and to the root Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“to dry”), so that it first meant “dry land”.^[14][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word to before 1320.^[4] DELI's first text is the Tuscan translation of Crescenzi (c. 1350), with the sense “terrace”: un luogo con un alto terrazzo, ovvero triclinio (“a place with a high terrace, or dining room”).^[15][16][17]

Semantic evolution

In the Latin of Bologna the word also meant loose earth, from 1259, and that sense is old in Italian too.^[15][11] In 1570 Palladio wrote that floors are made di terrazzo, come si usa in Venezia (“of terrazzo, as is the custom in Venice”), the first record of the Venetian mosaic floor, and the word was used for waterproof terrace paving from 1786.^[15] The diminutive terrazzino and the verb terrazzare date from the 16th century.^[3][11]

Agriculture used it for the cultivable steps of a terraced slope (before 1811, Lastri), and geology for an erosion step on the side of a valley (1912).^[15] Terrazzamento followed in 1937.^[3] English took the word for the Venetian floor: DIFIT dates it to 1817, the OED to 1902.^[18][11] German Terrazzo is recorded from 1879.^[18]

Timeline

• 1259 – The word is recorded for loose earth in the Medieval Latin of Bologna.^[15]
• 1285 – Medieval Latin terazum at Bologna.^[2]
• Before 1320 – GRADIT's first date for terrazzo.^[4]
• c. 1350 – The Crescenzi translation uses terrazzo for a terrace.^[15]
• 16th century – Terrazzino and terrazzare appear.^[3]
• 1570 – Palladio describes the Venetian terrazzo floor.^[15][18]
• Before 1811 – Lastri uses it for terraced fields.^[15]
• 1817 – English terrazzo is first recorded.^[18]
• 1912 – Patrini uses it in geology.^[15]
• 1937 – Terrazzamento is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A balcony or terrace of a flat, open or roofed, with a railing or parapet and reached through one or more French windows: Abbiamo cenato fuori, sul terrazzo.^[4][6][7]
2. A roof terrace, the same as terrazza.^[4][6][19]
3. (agriculture) Each of the level steps cut into a steep slope for cultivation.^{[6][7][19][9]}
4. (geology) A flat bench of debris or rock along a river, lake or sea coast, formed by erosion or deposition: terrazzo fluviale, terrazzo marino.^[4][6][7][9]
5. (mountaineering) A ledge on a rock face where climbers can rest or bivouac.^[4][6][9]
6. (historical, military) The top of an earthwork raised by besiegers for their guns.^[4][9]
7. (heraldry) A ground shown in a shield by an irregular, wavy or convex line.^[4][9]
8. (building) A waterproof floor covering for terraces, and the Venetian mosaic floor, terrazzo alla veneziana.^{[4][19][9][8]}

Word family

• terrazzino
• terrazzare
• terrazzamento

Related words

• terrazza
• terra
• terraccio
• French terrasse

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d e 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
6. ^ a b c d e f 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
9. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3765
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 988
14. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 951
17. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
18. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
19. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli