sbirro Italian · revision 39366

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=derivation|attested=before 1336, Cenne da la Chitarra (form birro)|origins=la birrus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈzbir.ro/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sbirro''' ''m'' (plural sbirri)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|it|s-|birro]], the older word with an intensifying prefix.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Devoto 1968|388)^(Wiktionary) The GDLI explains the prefix as continuing [[la|ex-]] with a pejorative force.^(GDLI|17, 677)

+

+ The origin of the base word is disputed.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) The usual explanation, which DELI mentions but calls far from certain, derives it from [[la-lat|birrus|t=red hooded cloak]], a cloak supposedly worn by the guards, from [[grc|πυρρός|tr=purrhós|t=red]].^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020) DELI also suggests a variant of [[sgherro]].^(DELI 1999) Nocentini prefers the Latin word as a colour term, “reddish brown”, a variant of [[m|la|burrus]], borrowed from the Greek word and known only from glosses but alive in speech, as [[buio]] shows.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ The LEI rejects the colour of a uniform, since nothing shows that red was the colour of guards in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and proposes a sound-imitative base [[m|it|*birr-]] for a lively, insolent person, as in [[birichino]]; the first Pisan record, meaning “rogue”, would support it.^(Nocentini 2010) Nocentini answers that most records, old and new, have the sense “guard”, and that it was the dark uniform, not a red one, that gave the name.^(Nocentini 2010) The Latin word for a short hooded cloak has a separate, Gaulish origin, from [[xtg|*birros|t=short]].^(LEI|6, 1)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ ''Birro'' is first recorded in an anonymous Pisan poem of the early 14th century, meaning “guard in the service of an authority”, and in Cenne da la Chitarra, before 1336.^(TLIO)^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) The form ''sbirro'' appears in Agnolo Firenzuola in 1518–1525, though Nocentini dates it to the mid-15th century.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word named the armed guard of a town or ruler, and ''sbirraglia'', the guards as a body, is recorded from 1483.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DELI 1999) It was disparaging from early on.^(GDLI|17, 677) Ariosto has a character ask: ''Dove van questi sbirri? Andar debbono / a dar mala ventura a qualche povero / cittadin'' (“Where are these cops going? They must be off to bring bad luck to some poor citizen”).^(GDLI|17, 677) The tone grew harsher in modern times, above all for the police of authoritarian governments.^(GDLI|17, 677) A Tuscan saying called a very cunning person ''furbo quanto sette sbirri'', “as sly as seven cops”.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ As an adjective it came to mean “sly, lively”, and in northern dialects it is used for a quick, lively boy.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DEI|3355) From 1805 sailors called a hemp ring that holds a tackle on a spar or rope a ''sbirro'', probably because it holds the tackle the way a cop holds a prisoner.^(DELI 1999)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ The word was borrowed as French ''sbire'' (1546), English ''sbirro'' (1596) and German ''Sbirre'' (1585–1589), and Spanish ''esbirro'' comes from it as well.^(DIFIT)^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) Etymonline dates the English word, for an Italian police officer, to the 1660s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Early 14th century – ''Birro'' “guard” appears in an anonymous Pisan poem.^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1336 – Cenne da la Chitarra uses ''birro''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1483 – ''Sbirraglia'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1518–1525 – Agnolo Firenzuola uses ''sbirro''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1540 – The adjective ''sbirresco'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1546 – French ''sbire'' is recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1596 – English ''sbirro'' is recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1805 – The nautical sense appears.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(derogatory)'' [[m|en|cop]], policeman: ''Quello sbirro mi ha fermato due volte in una settimana.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(historical)'' An armed guard who kept public order in medieval and Renaissance towns.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(nautical)'' A flexible ring of hemp used to fix a [[m|en|tackle]] to a spar or rope.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(colloquial)'' Sly, lively, sharp: ''Quel bambino ha un'aria sbirra.''^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[sbirraglia]]

+ * [[sbirresco]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[birro]]

+ * [[sgherro]]

+ * [[es|esbirro]]

+ * [[fr|sbire]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}