spingarda
Italian
Alternative forms
- sbingarda, spinguarda (obsolete)
Etymology
Semi-learned borrowing from Old French espringale, itself derived from Frankish *springan. Cognate with German springen (“to jump”).[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /spinˈɡar.da/
- Rhymes: -arda
- Hyphenation: spin‧gàr‧da
Noun
spingarda f (plural spingarde) (historical)
- (weaponry) springald [14th century]
- 1350s, anonymous author, “Della sconfitta de Francia, là dove morze lo re de Boemia e·llo re de Francia fu sconfitto dallo re de Egnilterra. [About the defeat of France, there where the king of Bohemia died, and the king of France was defeated by the king of England]” (chapter 14), in Cronica [Chronicle][1] (overall work in Old Italian); republished as Giuseppe Porta, editor, Anonimo romano - Cronica, Adelphi, 1979, →ISBN:
- Bombarde, spingarde e aitre orribile cose da pericolare lo castiello e·lli avitatori. (Roman old Italian)
- Bombards, springalds, and other horrible things to endanger the castle and its inhabitants.
- (firearms) blunderbuss [from 15th century]
- (firearms) punt gun [18th–19th century]
- 1867, Ippolito Nievo, chapter IV (chapter 4), in Le confessioni di un ottuagenario [Confessions of an octogenarian][2], Florence: Le Monnier, page 169:
- […] ma i beccaccini si vengono educando alla malizia, e in quel mezzo minuto che lo sparo s’incanta, mi scappano un mezzo miglio lontano. Verrà tempo che si dovrà correr lor dietro colla spingarda.
- […] the snipes are growing wary of the trick, and, in that half-minute when the shot is stuck, they flee half a mile away. The time will come when you'll have to run after them with a punt gun.
Descendants
- → Portuguese: espingarda (“rifle”)
References
Further reading
- spingarda on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia it