pizza

Forms

pizza f (plural pizze)^[1] The plural is pizze; the genitive and dative singular is pizzei.^[2][1] DEX also records an adapted variant pizză.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian pizza, taken over in its Italian spelling and pronounced [pița].^[2][3][4][1]

The Italian word is recorded in the Medieval Latin of Gaeta in 997 as Medieval Latin pizza (“flat cake”).^[5] Its further origin is disputed.^[6][1] Nocentini takes it as a Romance formation from Vulgar Latin *pi(n)siāre (“to crush”), and lists Greek and Semitic, Germanic and Indo-European explanations proposed by others.^[6] Wiktionary relates it to Byzantine Greek πίτα (píta, “cake, pie”), or possibly to Lombardic bizza.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dimitrescu's dictionary of recent words quotes it from a newspaper of 23 May 1975, and then from 1979, where “piquant pizza” is listed among other foods.^[7] Marcu and Maneca's dictionary of neologisms entered it in its third edition (1978), MDA2's first record.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word names the Italian dish: a flat round of dough baked with tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese, ham or fish.^[2][3] Dimitrescu records it among the many Italian food words of the late 20th century, beside phrases such as pizza suprema in the press of 2008.^[7]

Timeline

• 1975 – first quoted in a newspaper.^[7]
• 1978 – entered in the third edition of Marcu and Maneca's dictionary of neologisms.^[3]
• 1979 – picanta pizza in a newspaper.^[7]
• 2004 – „Iau pizza, plătesc și gata” “I take a pizza, pay and that's it”, quoted by Rodica Zafiu.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. pizza: a flat tart of dough topped with tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese, ham, fish and the like and baked in an oven, a dish typical of southern Italy.^[2][3][8]

Usage notes

The word keeps the Italian spelling zz but is pronounced with [ț]: [pița].^[2][9] Beside pizza (plural pizze), DEX lists the variant pizză, which fits the word into the Romanian feminine nouns in -ă.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 825
3. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 401
4. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. pizza
5. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. pizza
8. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. pizza
9. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. pizza