PITTIMA - English meaning below after Italian

History
Pittima is the term that in the past was used to define a person who was paid by creditors to constantly follow their debtors. He was a sort of tax collector whose task was to remind to the debtors that they had to pay off the debt they had contracted. The profession of pittima was very common in two of the maritime republics: the Republic of Venice and the Republic of Genoa.

Pittima was often recruited among the marginalized and the disadvantaged persons. These persons had to be available at any request of the institutions to following a debtor. So actually it was a regular job (!).

Pittima was always dressed in red so that everyone would know that the victim of pittima was a defaulting debtor 😉 In this way, the embarrassment of the debtor increased even more due to the shadowing of pittima.

But is not all! Pittima was allowed also to shout loudly to embarrass the debtor (!). His constant following was focused on attracting much attention as possible of passers-by and convincing the debtor to pay off the debt. At the same time, the debtor who was being followed couldn’t harm, offend or answer pittima. It was forbidden under a penalty of condemnation because pittima was an institutional figure 😉 In the end, after the collection of the debt, pittima received a percentage of the debt.

------ ITALIAN --------

Pittima è il termine con cui in passato veniva definita, particolarmente nelle repubbliche marinare di Venezia e Genova, ma anche a Napoli, una persona pagata dai creditori per seguire costantemente i loro debitori. Era una sorta di esattore che aveva come compito quello di ricordare a costoro che dovevano saldare il debito contratto.

Il termine
La pittima poteva gridare a gran voce per mettere in imbarazzo il debitore, e il suo costante pedinamento era volto a sfiancarlo così che si decidesse a saldare il debito, la cui riscossione gli poteva fruttare una percentuale più o meno congrua.

La pittima vestiva di rosso, affinché tutti sapessero che il perseguitato dalla pittima era un debitore moroso. Questo aumentava l'imbarazzo dovuto al pedinamento della pittima.

In particolare nella Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia la figura della pittima era reclutata tra gli emarginati e i disagiati che fruivano di una sorta di assistenza sociale del Doge costituita da mense pubbliche e ostelli a loro riservati. Questi assistiti dovevano però rendersi disponibili a richiesta delle istituzioni per fare la pittima: il debitore pedinato non poteva nuocere a queste figure istituzionali pena la condanna. Il credito doveva essere difeso come il buon nome della maggiore repubblica commerciale dell'epoca.

Pittima è divenuto in seguito sinonimo di persona insistente che si lamenta sempre (ma anche, quindi, in termini speculativi, di percentuale).

In lingua veneta, la frase genericamente più utilizzata per definire pittima una persona è: "Ti xe proprio na pittima!" (Sei proprio uno che si lamenta di continuo per nulla), equivalente di "T'ê pròpio 'na pìtima!", in lingua genovese. Il termine è usato ugualmente in dialetto fiorentino e compare comunque tra le voci del dizionario italiano Garzanti, che ne dà la definizione di "una persona noiosa, che si lamenta in continuazione di piccole cose".

Il dizionario Treccani ne dà lo stesso significato[1], dando l'etimologia (lat. tardo epithĕma, dal gr. ἐπίϑεμα, propr. «ciò che è posto sopra») e specificandone il significato originale di "impacco a scopo terapeutico", da cui è derivato il significato di "persona fastidiosa"; viene suggerito il paragone con la parola "impiastro".

Nella cultura di massa
Fabrizio De André ha intitolato una canzone dell'album Creuza de mä, appunto, A' pittima (La pittima).
Anche Zucchero, nel brano 13 buone ragioni contenuto in Black Cat, accenna alla "pittima del reame", riferendosi con ironia alla sua ex-moglie.
-------ENGLISH MEENING ------------
History
Pittima is the term that in the past was used to define a person who was paid by creditors to constantly follow their debtors. He was a sort of tax collector whose task was to remind to the debtors that they had to pay off the debt they had contracted. The profession of pittima was very common in two of the maritime republics: the Republic of Venice and the Republic of Genoa.

Pittima was often recruited among the marginalized and the disadvantaged persons. These persons had to be available at any request of the institutions to following a debtor. So actually it was a regular job (!).

Pittima was always dressed in red so that everyone would know that the victim of pittima was a defaulting debtor 😉 In this way, the embarrassment of the debtor increased even more due to the shadowing of pittima.

But is not all! Pittima was allowed also to shout loudly to embarrass the debtor (!). His constant following was focused on attracting much attention as possible of passers-by and convincing the debtor to pay off the debt. At the same time, the debtor who was being followed couldn’t harm, offend or answer pittima. It was forbidden under a penalty of condemnation because pittima was an institutional figure 😉 In the end, after the collection of the debt, pittima received a percentage of the debt.

Nowadays
Nowadays, a job as a pittima doesn’t exist any more. However, the term pittima remained and became synonymous of an insistent person who always complains.”T’ê pròpio ‘na pìtima!” that in Genoese dialect means:” You’re the one who constantly complains about something”. What is more, the Italian dictionaries Garzanti and Trecciani gave officially the definition of pittima as “an annoying person, who constantly complains about small things“.

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