stronzo Italian · revision 37954

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1299, Prato document|origins=gmw-pro *strunt}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈstron.t͡so/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''stronzo''' ''m'' (plural stronzi, feminine stronza, diminutive stronzétto or stronzettìno, augmentative stronzóne, pejorative stronzàccio)^(Wiktionary)

+ An older spelling is [[roa-oit|stronço]].^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|lng|*strunz|t=dung]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto 1968)^(Wiktionary) Nocentini compares [[nds|strunt]] and [[nl|stront]], and derives [[fr|étron]] from the corresponding [[frk|*strunt]];^(Nocentini 2010) Wiktionary traces the Lombardic word to [[gmw-pro|*strunt]].^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[scn|strunzu]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Zaccaria connected it with [[gmh|strunze|t=stump, stub]], and thought the original idea was “a piece cut off”;^(Zaccaria 1901) Körting likewise compares [[goh|strunzan|t=to cut off]].^(Körting 1907) Meyer-Lübke, as Körting reports, preferred to start from [[la-lat|strundius]], a word for dung in the Latin glossaries, and Prati also derived it from that form;^(Körting 1907)^(Prati 1951|958) Zaccaria held that the Latin word was modelled on French and appears too late and too locally to be the source.^(Zaccaria 1901)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Medieval Latin ''stroncus'' is recorded at Torcello near Venice in 1290 or 1291.^(DELI 1999) The TLIO's first Italian record is a Prato document of 1299, followed by Franco Sacchetti's ''Trecentonovelle'' (before 1400), where two men bite into what they think is food and spit it out: “Oimè e' sono stronzi di cane” (Alas, they are dog turds).^(TLIO)^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|20, 391)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ For centuries the word meant only a lump of excrement and appeared in comic and burlesque verse, from Cammelli and Folengo to Marino and Frugoni.^(GDLI|20, 391) The insult for a worthless or despicable person spread from Rome: Migliorini recorded the Roman ''A strónzo!'' in 1950.^(DELI 1999) Paolo Zolli argued that Roman dialect had taken it from southern Italy, perhaps from Sicily, where Mortillaro's dictionary (1881) already gives ''strunzu'' as an abusive name for a worthless man.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|20, 391)

+

+ From the insult Italian formed ''stronzaggine'' (1967) and ''stronzata'' “nonsense, stupid act” (1978).^(Nocentini 2010) The word reached American English slang in the 1970s as ''strunz'' “rubbish”.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1290–1291 – Medieval Latin ''stroncus'' is recorded at Torcello.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1299 – The word appears in a Prato document.^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses ''stronzi''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1881 – Sicilian ''strunzu'' “worthless man” is recorded by Mortillaro.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1950 – Migliorini records the Roman insult ''A strónzo!''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1967 – ''Stronzaggine'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1970s – American English slang ''strunz'' is recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1978 – ''Stronzata'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(vulgar)'' A [[m|en|turd]], a solid piece of excrement.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(vulgar, figurative)'' A stupid or despicable person, a [[m|en|bastard]], often as an insult; also jokingly: ''Smettila di fare lo stronzo!''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(vulgar)'' Nasty, despicable, or stupid: ''un capo stronzo'', ''una risposta stronza''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[stronzata]]

+ * [[stronzaggine]]

+ * [[stronzone]]

+ * [[stronzetto]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[stronzolo]]

+ * [[nl|stront]]

+ * [[fr|étron]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A different, obsolete adjective ''stronzo'' meant “clipped”, of coins, and is formed from the verb ''stronzare'' “to cut short”;^(GDLI|20, 392)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) Buonarroti the Younger lists coins that were ''tose, stronze'' (shorn, clipped).^(GDLI|20, 392)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}