birra Italian · revision 38402

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1521, Marin Sanudo}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈbir.ra/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''birra''' ''f'' (plural birre)^(Wiktionary)

+ The earliest form is [[roa-oit|bira]], in Marin Sanudo (1521), and ''bira'' is still the Venetian form.^(DELI 1999)^(Prati 1951|147)^(Zaccaria 1901)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|de|Bier]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) Nocentini names the Middle High German form, [[m|gmh|bier]], and compares [[fr|bière]] and [[ro|bere]].^(Nocentini 2010) The double ⟨rr⟩ is Tuscan, as Carlo Salvioni showed in 1916, and Prati compares other foreign words that took a double ⟨rr⟩ in Italian.^(DELI 1999)^(Prati 1951|147) The French word came from Dutch, and DEI explains the different shapes of the Italian and French borrowings by the brewing trade: German for Italy, Dutch for France.^(DEI|528)^(GDLI|2, 245)

+

+ The feminine gender, against the neuter of German, is probably taken over from the word it replaced, [[cervogia]], from [[la|cervisia|t=beer]] (compare [[fr|cervoise]]).^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Prati 1951|147) DEI ties the replacement to the use of hops.^(DEI|528)

+

+ The origin of the German word is uncertain.^(GRADIT 2003) Nocentini, Zingarelli and Gabrielli derive it, some with a question mark, from [[la-lat|bibō|alt=bibere|t=to drink]], a word that would have entered Old High German through the monasteries, so that the Italian word would be a loan returning to the Romance world.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020) Körting rejected the link with the Latin verb, and Zaccaria, after Kluge, held the word to be native Germanic, perhaps related to [[de|brauen|t=to brew]].^(Körting 1907)^(Zaccaria 1901)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is ''bira'' in the diaries of the Venetian Marin Sanudo, in 1521, and ''birra'' in Pietro Andrea Mattioli in 1550, in the sense “a fermented drink made from malt and hops”.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) Mattioli compares the drinks of the ancients with “la cervisia, over birra, che s’usa a i tempi nostri nelle parti settentrionali in tutta Alemagna, Boemia, Polonia, Fiandra, Francia” (cervisia, or beer, which is used in our time in the northern parts, all over Germany, Bohemia, Poland, Flanders, France).^(GDLI|2, 245)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ For a long time beer was a foreign drink in Italian texts: Chiabrera addresses someone “ebbro di birra” (drunk on beer).^(GDLI|2, 245)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) A French-looking ''biera'' in Gregorio Leti (1690) did not last.^(DELI 1999) The trade words followed: ''birraio'', a brewer or seller of beer, in 1797, and ''birreria'', a beer house, in 1837;^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) Fanfani and Arlìa noted in 1881 that it was written on shop signs, especially in northern towns.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ In the colloquial language the word took figurative senses of speed and energy.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011) The phrase ''a tutta birra'' “at full speed” probably reshapes the French ''à toute bride'' “at full rein”, under the influence of ''a tutto vapore'' and ''a tutto gas'';^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010) Carlo Alberto Mastrelli thought instead of the sound of an engine, ''brr''.^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010) Other phrases are ''dare la birra a qualcuno'', “to outdo someone”, especially in sport, and ''farci la birra'', “to have no use for something”.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)^(Treccani 2011) In Rome, in 1933, ''Che cce fo? la bbira?'' (what do I do with it, make beer?) was a new way of belittling a thing.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ Italian passed the word on to [[el|μπίρα|tr=bíra]], [[tr|bira]] (through Ottoman Turkish) and [[fi|birra]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1521 – Marin Sanudo writes ''bira''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1550 – Pietro Andrea Mattioli uses ''birra''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1690 – Gregorio Leti has the Gallicism ''biera''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1797 – ''Birraio'' is recorded in D'Alberti's dictionary.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1837 – ''Birreria'' is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1933 – The Roman ''la bbira'' is recorded as a new colloquial phrase.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|beer]], an alcoholic drink made by fermenting [[m|en|malt]] of barley or other cereals, flavoured with [[m|en|hops]]: ''Preferisco la birra scura a quella chiara.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A glass, bottle or can of beer: ''Ci beviamo una birra dopo il lavoro?''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(figurative, colloquial)'' Speed, as in ''a tutta birra'' (at full speed).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(figurative, colloquial)'' Energy, stamina: ''Dopo trenta chilometri quel ciclista ha ancora birra.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[birraio]]

+ * [[birreria]]

+ * [[birretta]]

+ * [[birrificio]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cervogia]]

+ * [[de|Bier]]

+ * [[fr|bière]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Fixed phrases include ''birra alla spina'' (draught beer), ''lievito di birra'' (brewer's yeast), ''a tutta birra'' (at full speed), ''dare la birra a qualcuno'' (to beat someone easily) and ''farci la birra'' (to have no use for something).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}