Italian

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Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

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

Noun

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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)
      • 17th 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

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Etymology 2

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

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sferra

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

Maltese

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Italian sferrare.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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

  1. to break loose

Conjugation

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    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
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Neapolitan

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Etymology

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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

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sferra f (plural sferre)

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

References

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  • 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

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Etymology

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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

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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

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References

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  • Traina, Antonino (1868) “sferra”, in Nuovo vocabolario Siciliano-Italiano [New Sicilian-Italian vocabulary] (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