vizzo

Forms

vizzo (feminine vizza, masculine plural vizzi, feminine plural vizze)^[1] An old variant is guizzo, in Firenzuola and Sassetti in the 16th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

Its origin is debated.^[5][1] DELI, GRADIT and Nocentini take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *viētius (“rather overripe”), the neuter comparative of Latin viētus (“overripe, drooping”).^{[5][6][7][8][4]} The participle belongs to viēscō (“to begin to wither”), the inchoative of vieō (“to bind, bend”).^[5][6][7] DELI compares Columella's phrase for a fig that is starting to wilt, viēscens fīcus.^[5]

Prati and Pieri followed another path within the same family: the adjective would be taken from the verb avvizzare, older Old Italian avizzare, which goes back to a Vulgar Latin *vetiāre for *vietiāre (“to wither”), formed from the participle.^[3][5][9] Devoto explained the word as a crossing of three Latin words: the participle, *vītus (“wrapped”), another participle of the same verb, and vitium (“fault”).^[10][5] Wiktionary suggests a Vulgar Latin *vetius from vetus (“old”).^[1] In the 19th century Tommaseo saw a shortened form of viziato (“spoiled”).^[11]

DEI compares Piedmontese vèz (“rancid”).^[2] Schuchardt derived the old variant with ⟨gu-⟩ from a Germanic word for “withered”, but Meyer-Lübke noted that its ⟨zz⟩ is unexplained.^[9] The Latin verb goes back to the PIE root Proto-Indo-European *weh₁y- (“to twine, wind”), the root of Latin vītis (“vine”) too.^[1][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dante (1313–1319), for plants and fruit that are no longer fresh and firm.^[5][7][2]

Semantic evolution

From withered leaves and fruit the word passed early to human flesh that has lost its firmness, above all with age: DELI dates le vizze mascelle “the sagging jaws” to F. Sacchetti, about 1354.^[5] Tommaseo's 14th-century examples compare such flesh to a deflated bladder.^[11] In 1640 Oudin recorded vizzo as “wrinkled”, with vizza “wrinkle” and vizzoso “full of wrinkles”, and the phrase guance vizze, sagging cheeks, entered the Zingarelli dictionary in 1942.^[5]

The verb avvizzire, to wither, is recorded from 1738 and is now more common than the adjective in everyday speech.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1313–1319 – Dante uses vizzo.^[5][7]
• About 1354 – F. Sacchetti writes of le vizze mascelle.^[5]
• 16th century – the variant guizzo appears in Firenzuola and Sassetti.^[2]
• 1640 – Oudin records vizzo “wrinkled”, vizza and vizzoso.^[5]
• 1738 – first record of avvizzire.^[6]
• 1942 – guance vizze is recorded by Zingarelli.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a flower, fruit or plant: no longer fresh, withered, appassito: un mazzo di rose ormai vizze.^{[7][13][14][1]}
2. Of skin or flesh: having lost its youthful firmness; flabby, wrinkled: le mani vizze della nonna.^{[7][13][8][14]}

Word family

• avvizzire
• invizzire

Related words

• avvizzare
• vimine
• Latin vietus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4077
3. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1059
4. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana