pizza

The story

1. Aramaic · derived fromפִיתָּא“piece of bread”
2. Latin · derived frompīnctus
3. Neapolitan · borrowed frompizza
4. English todaypizza

First attested in 1931, borrowed from Neapolitan pizza (1590), of uncertain origin. Possibly related to Medieval Greek πίτα (píta, “cake, pie”), attested in 1107 and itself of uncertain origin. The northern Italian dialectal form was pinza, the southern (Apulian and Calabrian) form was pitta. This suggests a derivation from Latin pīnctus (pictus (“painted, smeared”)) or pīnsum, pīnsitum, pistum (“pounded”), but the northern forms appear to be contaminated with pinzare (“to staple”). There are alternative suggestions involving Greek etymologies (πηκτή (pēktḗ), πηκτός (pēktós, “compacted, congealed”); πήτεα (pḗtea, “bran”); Ancient Greek πιττάκιον (pittákion, “patch; tablet; ticket”)), more remote possibilities involve comparison with Lombardic pizzo, pizza (“bite, morsel, lump, dumpling”); Albanian petë (“layer”), Romanian pată (“blotch, stain, macula”); Albanian pite (“gruel”); From Aramaic פִיתָּא (pītā, “piece of bread”), Hebrew פַּת (paṯ, “bread”). Possibly doublet of pide and pita.

Words from the same roots