Pizza
Italian, from Neapolitan · pronounced PEET-tsa
A baked, usually round flatbread with toppings applied before baking. The word is attested in Italian documents from Gaeta in 997 CE — centuries before tomatoes reached Europe — so its earliest recorded uses cannot have described anything resembling modern pizza. What the word denoted before roughly the 18th century is genuinely unclear.
Literal meaning
Uncertain. Proposed derivations include the Latin 'pinsere' (to press or pound), the Greek 'pitta', and a Lombardic 'bizzo'/'pizzo' meaning a bite or mouthful; none is settled.
Region
Italy, now international
Also known as
pie, pizza pie
Common misuse
Citing the 997 CE Gaeta attestation as evidence that 'pizza is over a thousand years old' in its modern sense. The word is that old; the dish is not.
Related
Evidence
Supported, with regional variation- The Oxford Companion to Food — Oxford University Press
- Accademia Italiana della Cucina — regional Italian food documentation — Accademia Italiana della Cucina