sfirrari

From Vulgar Latin *exferrō, *exferrāre. Compare Italian sferrare. By surface analysis, s- +‎ ferru +‎ -ari. Compare Italian perdere le staffe. Cfr. also firrijari~furrijari.

sfirrari (past participle sfirratu)

1. (transitive, farriery) to unshoe (a horse)
   • a. 1368, De Cruyllis–Spatafora, “Di la guardia et di la doctrina di lu cavallu”, in Libru di la Mascalchia ‎, translation of De Medicina equorum by Giordano Ruffo, page 11v:

     E sachi ki quantu plui si ferra lu cavallu iuvini tantu plui li soi unghi diventanu debili e molli, kí lu usu di andari sferatu genera da la sua iuvintuti li soi unghi duri e grandi.

     And know that the younger the horse is shoed the more his hooves become weak and soft, because the practice of going unshoed yields big and strong hooves from his youth.

2. (colloquial, of people) to lose irrationally the control or patience.
3. (intransitive)
   1. (of a clock) to ring out of time or generally unpleasingly
   2. to leave angrily
   3. to have a licentious life (Is there an English equivalent to this definition?)
   4. to get angry; to fly off the handle
      • c. 1786, Giovanni Meli, chapter VIII, in Don Chisciotti e Sanciu Panza, stanza 8:

        Qualchi vota è benefica, e in cert’uri ¶ Si fa tiranna, incrudelisci, e sferra […].

        Sometimes she's kind, and sometimes she becomes tyrant, cruel, and flies off the handle.

4. (reflexive) See sfirràrisi and sfirrarisilla.

• sferra
• sfirrata, sfirratura
• sfirrijari
• sfirrijatu
• sfirratu

• Traina, Antonino (1868) “sfirrari”, in Nuovo vocabolario Siciliano-Italiano (in Italian), Liber Liber, published 2020, page 3830
• “sferrato”, in TLIO – Tesoro della lingua italiana delle origini