sferra

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsfɛr.ra/
• Rhymes: -ɛrra
• Hyphenation: sfèr‧ra

Etymology 1

From Vulgar Latin *exferra. By surface analysis, deverbal from sferrare (“to unshoe (a horse)”) +‎ -a. Compare Neapolitan sferra and Sicilian sferra.

Noun

sferra f (plural sferre)

1. (farriery) exhausted horseshoe; the old horseshoe after it is removed from the hoof of a horse (Is there an English equivalent to this definition?)

   Hypernym: ferro (“horseshoe”)

2. (by extension, archaic or regional) Various things which are old and worn out or with little value:
   1. old rusty knife or sword

      Hypernym: coltello (“knife”)

      • 17^th century, Silvio Fiorillo, “Scena Settima”, in La Lucilla costante:

        Ecco la vostra sferra vecchia, avetela con alcuno? Ditelo a me, che ne farò salciccie.

        Here's your old rusty sword. Are you mad with anyone? Tell me about it, and I'll make sausages of them.

      • c. 1685, Federigo Nomi, chapter XIII, in Il catorcio d'Anghiari‎^[1], stanza XV:

        Ognun portava l’asta ed il polvese, ¶ E al fianco senza fodero la sferra, […]

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      • 1825–1827, Alessandro Manzoni, chapter XIII, in I promessi sposi‎^[2], Milan: Vincenzo Ferrario:

        […] altri poi con pietre aguzze, con coltelli spuntati, con isferre, con chiodi, coll’ugne, se altro non vi era, scalcinavano e sgretolavano la muraglia […].

        Then other people with sharp stones, dull knives, rusty swords, nails [of metal], [finger]nails, if there wasn't anything else, kicked and crumbled the wall.

   2. rag (tattered piece of clothing)

      Synonyms: cencio, straccio

      • 1529, Pietro Aretino, “A messer Girolamo Agnelli”, in Il primo libro delle lettere:

        […] il signor loro gli pon la mano in su la spalla o gli dona una sferra de le sue cose vecchie.

        […] their master puts his hand on their shoulder or gifts them a rag from his old stuff.

   3. piece of junk (item of little value)

      Synonym: cianfrusaglia

   4. good-for-nothing (worthless man)

      Synonym: buono a nulla

3. (regional, fishing) dredge (iron frame attached to a fine net when fishing molluscs)

   Coordinate term: rullo

Further reading

• sfèrra in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• sferra in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
• “sfèrra”, in Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, volume 18 scho–sik, UTET, 1996, page 864a

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

sferra

1. inflection of sferrare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Maltese

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian sferrare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsfɛr.ra/

Verb

sferra (imperfect jisferra, past participle sferrat, verbal noun sferrar)

1. to break loose

Conjugation

Conjugation of sferra
		singular				plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person
perfect	m	sferrajt	sferrajt	sferra		sferrajna	sferrajtu	sferraw
	f			sferrat
imperfect	m	nisferra	tisferra	jisferra		nisferraw	tisferraw	jisferraw
	f			tisferra
imperative			sferra				sferraw

Related terms

• sferrakavalli

 

Neapolitan

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *exferra. By surface analysis, sferrà (“to unshoe (a horse); to unshackle (a prisoner)”) +‎ -a. For the semantic development, see Italian sferra.

Noun

sferra f (plural sferre)

1. old rusty knife, especially if without handle
2. (humorous, in the plural) fake large silver coins

References

• AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 980: “la lama del coltello” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
• Andreoli, Raffaele (1887) “sferra”, in Vocabolario napoletano-italiano (in Italian), page 646

Sicilian

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *exferra. By surface analysis, sfirrari (“to unshoe (a horse)”) +‎ -a. For clearer semantic evolution see Italian sferra, and compare Neapolitan sferra. Doublet of scerra.

Noun

sferra f (plural sferri)

1. (farriery) broken old exhausted horseshoe after it is taken from the hoof of the horse (Is there an English equivalent to this definition?)
2. a knife without handle, especially if old
   • c. 1786, Giovanni Meli, chapter I, in Don Chisciotti e Sanciu Panza, stanza 2:

     Nun vanta lu coraggiu, e l’arruganza, ¶ Nè vanta imprisi di la sua sfirricchia […].

     He doesn't boast of bravery or arrogance, nor about the feats of his small rusty knife.

3. a bolt that secures the hoe blade to the handle

Derived terms

• scerra
• scirruzzu
• sferra-cavaḍḍu
• sfirricchia
• sfirruzzu

 

References

• Traina, Antonino (1868) “sferra”, in Nuovo vocabolario Siciliano-Italiano (in Italian), Liber Liber, published 2020, page 3823
• Pasqualino (c. 1790) “sferra”, in Vocabolario siciliano etimologico, italiano e latino (in Italian), volume 5, page 19