# sferra
## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /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)
* (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”)
* (by extension, archaic or regional) Various things which are old and worn out or with little value:
** 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, 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, 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.
** 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.
** piece of junk (item of little value)
    Synonym: cianfrusaglia
** good-for-nothing (worthless man)
    Synonym: buono a nulla
* (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
* inflection of sferrare:
** third-person singular present indicative
** second-person singular imperative

## Maltese
### Etymology

Borrowed from Italian sferrare.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈsfɛr.ra/

### Verb

sferra (imperfect jisferra, past participle sferrat, verbal noun sferrar)
* to break loose

#### 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)
* old rusty knife, especially if without handle
* (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)
* (farriery) broken old exhausted horseshoe after it is taken from the hoof of the horse (Is there an English equivalent to this definition?)
* 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.
* 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 [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