torcere

Forms

torcere (first-person singular present tòrco, first-person singular past historic tòrsi, past participle tòrto, auxiliary (transitive) avére or (intransitive) èssere)^[1] An old variant is Old Italian torzere, in Dante and Frezzi.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *tŏrcĕre, earlier *tŏrquĕre, the spoken form of classical Latin torqueō (“to twist”) moved from the second conjugation to the third.^{[3][4][5][6][1]} Prati derives the Old Italian variant torzere from Old Occitan torser.^[2] The verb is panromance: French tordre, Occitan tórser, Catalan torcer, Spanish torcer, Portuguese torcer, Sardinian tòrchere and Romanian toarce (“to spin”).^[4][7]

Its derivatives come from three stems: ⟨tort-⟩ from the past participle tortus (torto, tortile); ⟨tors-⟩ from a remade participle *torsum, based on the perfect torsī (torsione); and ⟨torc-⟩ from *torcere (torcitore, torcitura).^[3]

Latin torqueō goes back to Proto-Italic *torkʷeje- and Proto-Indo-European *torkʷ-éye- (“to twist”).^[8][1] Nocentini compares Ancient Greek τρέπω (trépō, “to turn”) and a root *trekʷ-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in Dante's Inferno (1300–13), for wrapping a thing round itself and for wrenching it out of shape;^[3][9] Geryon flicks his tail “twisting up the venomous fork” (Torcendo in su la venenosa forca).^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

Dante used the verb in a wide range: in the Purgatorio (1313–19) for turning aside, changing direction and diverting someone from good, and in the Paradiso for directing desire upward (torcesse in suso il disiderio vostro).^[3][5][10] The reflexive “to writhe” is in the translation of Palladius of about 1340, and in Crescenzi's agriculture torcere is the twisting of bunches of grapes on the vine to dry them.^[3][9] The textile sense, twisting fibres into yarn, gave the trade words torcitoio, torcitore and torcitura from the 14th century on.^[3][4]

Modern Italian has several fixed phrases: dare filo da torcere, to give someone a hard time;^[5][11][6] non torcere un capello, not to harm a hair of someone's head;^[5][11][6] torcere il collo, to wring a chicken's neck, also a threat; and torcere il naso, to turn up one's nose.^[5][11][6] The intransitive “to turn” (la strada torce a destra) is now uncommon.^[12][6][10]

Timeline

• 1300–1313 – Dante uses torcere for twisting and wrenching.^[3]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses it for turning aside, intransitively and for diverting someone.^[3]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for directing, especially figuratively.^[3]
• About 1340 – The reflexive torcersi “to writhe” is in the translation of Palladius.^[3]
• About 1350 – Torsione is in Crescenzi's translation.^[3]
• 1891 – Petrocchi records the sense “to bend forcibly”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To twist or wring something round on itself: torcere un asciugamano bagnato.^[5][11][12]
2. (transitive) To twist several threads together, as in making rope; in textiles, to throw yarn.^[5][11][6]
3. (transitive) To bend or curve: torcere una sbarra.^[5][11][12]
4. (transitive) To wrench a part of the body: torcere il polso a qualcuno;^[5][11][10] torcere il naso, to make a face in disgust.^[5][11][10]
5. (transitive, figurative) To distort words or a meaning.^[5][10][13]
6. (transitive, literary) To turn or direct; to divert someone from something.^[5][12][10]
7. (intransitive, uncommon) To turn, change direction.^{[5][12][6][1]}
8. (reflexive, torcersi) To writhe: torcersi sul letto per la febbre; to bend out of shape.^[12][10][6]

Word family

• torto
• torsione
• tortile
• torcitoio
• torcitore
• torcitrice
• torcitura
• torcicollo
• torciglione
• torcigliare
• torcinaso
• torcente

Related words

• attorcere
• contorcere
• distorcere
• estorcere
• ritorcere
• storcere
• tormento
• tortura
• torchio
• torcia
• Latin torqueo
• French tordre

Usage notes

GRADIT lists a rare noun torcere, a variant spelling of torciere, a large candlestick.^[5][6] The verb is irregular: tòrco, past historic tòrsi, past participle tòrto.^[11][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1000
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli