Etymologically
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pizza

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Forms

pizza f (genitive pizzae); first declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[1] According to the NGML it is borrowed from Italian pizza, which may in turn come from Greek πίττα (pítta); the NGML marks the Greek source with a question mark.[1] Du Cange connected it instead with the Italian word pinza.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the NGML is a document of 997 in the Codex Caietanus, which lists a payment of duodecim pizze et una spatula de porco, “twelve pizzas and a shoulder of pork”.[1] The word there means a flat cake.[1]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval documents it is a flat cake, paid as a due in kind together with meat.[1][2] Du Cange glosses it with the classical placenta, “flat cake”.[2]

Timeline

  • 997 – A document in the Codex Caietanus records twelve pizze among dues paid with a shoulder of pork.[1]
  • 1195 – A charter printed by Ughelli lists shoulders of pork, hens and pizzas among the dues.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) A flat cake, a kind of hearth bread.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
  2. ^ a b c d e du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre