sparo Italian · revision 39305

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1653}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈspa.ro/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''sparo''' ''m'' (plural spari)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a deverbal noun from [[sparare]] “to fire a gun”.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) That verb is itself recorded from before 1470;^(DELI 1999) DELI follows Castellani in deriving it from the older sense of the verb, “to gut an animal”, as if firing a weapon emptied it of its insides, while Nocentini forms it from [[parare]] “to prepare” with a prefix [[s-]] of reversal and thinks it probably copies [[es|disparar]], used of the crossbow from the early 15th century.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ GRADIT and Zingarelli date the noun to 1653;^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) DELI's first record is in Lorenzo Magalotti in 1666, with the senses “the act of firing, the discharge of a firearm, and the noise it makes”.^(DELI 1999) The ''Saggi di naturali esperienze'' of the Accademia del Cimento (1666) measured the time from the ''sparo'' of a cannon to the return of its ball.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Tommaseo–Bellini records the noun for a volley fired by soldiers in ceremonies of mourning or celebration, and Fagiuoli's rare use for a shout.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) The word also shares a spelling with an older ''sparo'' derived from the verb meaning “to cut open”: the opening at the front of a shirt or dress, and the dissection of a corpse.^(GDLI|19)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) Today ''sparo'' is the common word for a gunshot and its sound, and it appears in ''polvere da sparo'', gunpowder.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1470 – Luca Pulci uses ''sparare'' of a firearm.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1653 – First date of ''sparo'' in GRADIT and Zingarelli.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ * 1666 – Magalotti uses ''sparo''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1927 – ''Sparatoria'' “exchange of gunfire” appears in Panzini's dictionary.^(DELI 1999)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The firing of a [[m|en|firearm]]: ''il grilletto e il meccanismo di sparo''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # A [[m|en|gunshot]], the shot fired: ''La finestra era stata colpita da uno sparo.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The noise of a shot: ''Nel silenzio della notte si sentirono due spari.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sparare]]

+ * [[sparatoria]]

+ * [[sparata]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Polvere da sparo'' is gunpowder.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) A different ''sparo'' is the name of a sea fish of the bream family (genus ''Sparus''), from Latin ''sparus'' and Greek ''spáros'', recorded in GRADIT from the 19th century.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}