tizzo

Forms

tizzo m (plural tizzi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tītiō (“burning piece of wood, firebrand”), from the nominative, while the accusative gave tizzone.^[2][3][4][5] Devoto–Oli takes it instead as extracted from the longer word, and Meyer-Lübke lists it among the derivatives of the Latin word.^[6][7]

The Latin word is pan-Romance: French tison, Occitan tisó, Catalan tisó, Spanish tizón, Portuguese tição, Sardinian tittone and Romanian tăciune.^[8][7] Nocentini and Devoto think it imitative, from a sequence ⟨ti-ti⟩ for crackling.^[8][5] De Vaan derives it, with doubt, from Proto-Indo-European *teih₁- (“to become hot, melt”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates tizzo to Dante (1313–1319), but notes that it is a late reading for stizzo.^[2] Dante's Meleagro si consumò al consumar d'un tizzo (“was consumed as a brand was consumed”).^[10]

Semantic evolution

Lactantius called the Latin word popular: titionem volgus appellat extractum foco torrem semiustum et extinctum (“the people call titio a half-burnt, extinguished brand taken from the fire”).^[2]

The variant stizzo is older: the TLIO first finds it in Bonvesin de la Riva (Milan, 13th century), and Dante has Come d'un stizzo verde ch'arso sia (“as from a green brand that is burning”).^[11] The TLIO finds no tizzo in its Old Italian corpus.^[11]

Tommaseo records an obsolete figurative phrase, dare il tizzo, to keep asking for loans with no intention of paying them back.^[10] The word also names a piece of wood that burns badly and gives off much smoke.^[12][1] Today it is literary or uncommon beside tizzone.^[13][6][3]

Timeline

• 1200s – Bonvesin de la Riva uses the variant stizzo.^[11]
• 1313–1319 – Dante's tizzo (a late reading for stizzo).^[2]
• 1300s – Tizzone is recorded in the Italian Livy.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary or uncommon) A brand, piece of wood or coal that is burning or burnt out, the same as tizzone.^[3][4][13]
2. A piece of wood that burns badly and gives off much smoke.^[12][1]

Word family

• attizzare
• attizzatoio
• rattizzare

Related words

• tizzone
• stizzo
• Latin tītiō

Usage notes

Nero come un tizzo means very black, as of a face blackened by soot or very dark skin.^[14][12] The archaic variant is stizzo.^[6][4][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 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 Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 445
6. ^ a b c 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 Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli