piccolo

Forms

piccolo m (plural piccolos)^[1] Also spelled picolo.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian piccolo (“small”), recorded in Italian since the 13th century^[2][5] and used as a noun for a light wine in the 16th century.^[2][5] The Italian word is from an expressive base *pikk- expressing smallness in Italian, Sardinian and Romanian;^[2][6][7] Rey gives the base as *pill- and compares French petit.^[5]

English piccolo (1830) comes through the English phrase piccolo flute from the French word.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Balzac (1819) as a term of the card game boston, for the bid of taking a single trick.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

From 1828 it named the small flute in D sounding an octave above the ordinary flute.^[2][5][4] Popular speech took it up in 1876 for a light local wine, probably helped by the metaphor jouer de la flûte “to drink” and by the Italian sense;^[5][2] by the early 20th century it was any ordinary red wine,^[5][6] and this use died out around 1940.^[5] The verb picoler “to drink” is linked with it.^[5][9]

Timeline

• 1819 – Balzac uses it as a term of the game of boston.^[2][5]
• 1828 – The Revue musicale uses it for the small flute.^[2][6]
• 1830 – English piccolo “small flute” is recorded.^[8]
• 1876 – Recorded for a light local wine.^[2][5]
• Early 1900s – Used of ordinary red wine.^[5][6]
• c. 1940 – The wine sense goes out of use.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (music) A piccolo, the small transverse flute pitched an octave above the ordinary one: Le piccolo domine la fanfare.^[4][2][1]
2. (music) The highest-pitched stop of an organ.^[2]
3. (familiar, dated) A light local wine; by extension, ordinary red wine.^[4][6]
4. (card games) At boston, the bid of taking only one trick.^[9][5]

Related words

• picoler
• petit

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 449b
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org