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Origin and history of pizza

pizza(n.)

"a savoury dish of Italian origin, consisting of a base of dough, spread with a selection of such ingredients as olives, tomatoes, cheese, anchovies, etc., and baked in a very hot oven" [OED, 1989], 1845, from Italian pizza, originally "cake, tart, pie," a name of uncertain origin.

The 1907 "Vocabolario Etimologico della Lingua Italiana" reports it is said to be from dialectal pinza "clamp" (from Latin pinsere "to pound, stamp") which might refer to the folded style of pizza that is made in some regions of Italy (see quote below.)

The pizza is a sort of bun [original: un talmouse comme on en fait à St-Denis, lit. "a talmouse like one gets in St-Denis."]; it is round, and made of the same dough as bread. It is of different sizes according to the price. […] At first sight the pizza appears to be a simple dish, upon examination it proves to be compound. The pizza is prepared with bacon, with lard, with cheese, with tomatas, with fish. ["Sketches of Naples" by Alexandre Dumas, translated by A. Roland for Arthur's Magazine, Aug. 1845.]
A pizza is manufactured, as far as I can ascertain, by garnishing a slab of reinforced asphalt paving with mucilage, whale-blubber and the skeletons of small fishes, baking same to the consistency of a rubber heel, and serving piping-hot with a dressing of molten lava. ["Simon Stylites," in The Bergen Evening Record, May 15, 1931]

also from 1845

Entries linking to pizza

pizzeria(n.)

"a shop where pizzas are made, sold, or eaten," by 1928 in restaurant names around New York city, from pizza with ending as in cafeteria. In 1920s and '30s it sometimes also meant "pizza pie" itself.

za(n.)

U.S. student slang shortening of pizza, attested from 1968.

*bheid-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to split," with derivatives in Germanic "referring to biting (hence also to eating and to hunting) and woodworking" [Watkins].

It might form all or part of: abet; bait (n.) "food used to attract prey;" bait (v.) "to torment, persecute;" bateau; beetle (n.1) "type of insect; bit (n.1) "small piece;" bite; bitter; bitter end; boat; boatswain; -fid; fissile; fission; fissure; giblets; pita; pizza; vent (n.).

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit bhinadmi "I cleave," Latin Latin findere "to split, cleave, separate, divide," Old High German bizzan "to bite," Old English bita "a piece bitten off, morsel," Old Norse beita "to hunt with dogs," beita "pasture, food."

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    Trends of pizza

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

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    Examples (za from pizza, zels from pretzels, rents from parents) are American English student or teen slang and seem to date...
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    Old English disc "plate, bowl, platter," from Latin discus "dish, platter, quoit," in Medieval Latin "a table, dais, desk, pulpit," from Greek diskos "disk, platter" (see disk (n.)). A common West Germanic borrowing; Old High German took the word as tisc "plate," but German Tisch
    pie
    c. 1300 (probably older; piehus "bakery" is attested from late 12c.), "baked dish of pastry filled with a preparation of meats, spices, etc., covered with a thick layer of pastry and baked," from Medieval Latin pie "meat or fish enclosed in pastry" (c. 1300), which is perhaps rel
    innovation
    mid-15c., innovacion, "restoration, renewal," from Late Latin innovationem (nominative innovatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of innovare "to change; to renew," from in- "into" (from PIE root *en "in") + novus "new" (see new). Meaning "a novel change, experimental v
    confer
    1530s, "examine by comparison;" 1540s (intransitive) "consult together on some special subject;" 1560s, "bestow as a gift or permanent possession," from Old French conférer (14c.) "to give; to converse; to compare," from Latin conferre "to bring together," figuratively "to compar
    salad
    late 14c., salade, "raw herbs cut up and variously dressed," from Old French salade (14c.) and Medieval Latin salata, both from Vulgar Latin *salata, literally "salted," short for herba salata "salted vegetables" (vegetables seasoned with brine, a popular Roman dish), from fem. p
    Adam
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    celestial
    late 14c., "pertaining to the sky or the visible heavens; pertaining to the Christian or pagan heaven," from Old French celestial "celestial, heavenly, sky-blue," from Latin caelestis "heavenly, pertaining to the sky," from caelum "heaven, sky; abode of the gods; climate," which
    occult
    1530s, "secret, not divulged," from French occulte and directly from Latin occultus "hidden, concealed, secret," past participle of occulere "cover over, conceal," from assimilated form of ob "over" (see ob-) + a verb related to celare "to hide" (from PIE root *kel- (1) "to cover

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    Dictionary entries near pizza
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