merda Italian · revision 37707

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 1306, Iacopone da Todi}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈmɛr.da/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''merda''' ''f'' (plural merde, relational adjective merdoso, diminutive merdina or merdolina, pejorative merdaccia (“shitty person”))^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|merda|t=dung, excrement]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) DELI and GDLI call it a learned word, but it is found throughout the Romance languages: [[fr|merde]], [[oc|merda]], [[ca|merda]], [[es|mierda]], [[pt|merda]], [[sc|merda]], [[fur|mierde]], [[dlm|miarda]] and [[rup|merdu]].^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)

+

+ DELI and Zingarelli consider the origin of the Latin noun unknown or uncertain, and Devoto found no reliable Indo-European connection.^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Devoto 1968|278) Nocentini compares [[lt|smirdėti|t=to stink]] and [[ru|смердеть|tr=smerdét’|t=to stink]].^(Nocentini 2010) De Vaan reconstructs [[itc-pro|*smerdā|alt=*(s)merdā]] and [[ine-pro|*smerd-h₂-|t=stench]], a collective meaning “what stinks” that came to mean “excrement”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first records are in Iacopone da Todi, before 1306, and Dante's ''Inferno'' (1300–1313), in the sense “dung, excrement”.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO) Iacopone writes of a “vita de scrofa fetente, sogliata en merda lutosa” (life of a stinking sow, wallowing in muddy dung).^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The figurative sense “contemptible thing or person” is recorded in Agnolo Firenzuola (before 1543) and Michelangelo Buonarroti (before 1564).^(DELI 1999) The TLIO already has the insulting ''di merda'' in Old Italian, and ''merda d'orecchie'' for earwax.^(TLIO) The word was felt to be coarse: copyists of Dante sometimes replaced it with milder words such as ''feccia'', ''sterco'' or ''puzza'', and Carducci in 1857 wrote only the initial, ''m...''.^(DELI 1999) Treccani attributes the interjection ''merda!'' to the influence of French ''merde!''.^(Treccani 2011) Modern usage adds “a hopeless situation”, as in ''essere nella merda fino al collo''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses ''merda''.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)

+ * 1300–1313 – Dante uses ''merda'' and ''merdoso'' in the ''Inferno''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1543 – Agnolo Firenzuola uses the word of something contemptible.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1857 – Carducci writes the word with only its initial.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(vulgar)'' [[m|en|excrement]], dung, of people or animals.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''(vulgar, figurative)'' Something worthless, or a contemptible person: ''Quel telefono è una merda.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''(vulgar, figurative)'' A very unpleasant or hopeless situation: ''essere nella merda''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ===Interjection===

+ # ''(vulgar)'' An exclamation of anger or dismay: [[m|en|shit]]!^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[merdoso]]

+ * [[merdaio]]

+ * [[merdata]]

+ * [[merdone]]

+ * [[merdocco]]

+ * [[smerdare]]

+ * [[merdaccia]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|merda]]

+ * [[fr|merde]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Fixed expressions include ''di merda'' “lousy”, ''pezzo di merda'' (a strong insult) and ''fare una figura di merda'' “to make a fool of oneself”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) ''Merdocco'', a depilatory ointment, is a word of northern origin.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Prati 1951|655)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}