-acchio

Forms

-acchio m (noun-forming suffix, plural -acchi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin -āculum, through Vulgar Latin *-āclu.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin ending was first the suffix of instrument nouns -culum added to verbs in ⟨-ā-⟩, as in gubernāculum (“rudder”).^[4][1][5] The diminutives in -āculus, made with -ulus on stems in ⟨-āc-⟩, merged with it: audāculus (“rather bold”) from audāx and loquāculus from loquāx.^[4][6][1]

Semantic evolution

The instrumental value survives in batacchio and spauracchio, and Devoto–Oli and Nocentini describe the suffix as forming masculine nouns from verbs with a diminutive value, as in sputacchio.^[6][5][3] Beside these it has a diminutive value in orsacchio and an attenuating one in adjectives such as verdacchio; the bases are mostly nouns.^[6][1] In the dialects it also has a pejorative value.^[6]

Today it is used mostly in the compound suffixes -acchione and -acchiotto.^[7]

Meanings

Suffix

1. Forms nouns, mostly from verbs, that name an instrument or object: batacchio, spauracchio.^[6][4][5]
2. Forms nouns with a diminutive or pejorative value: orsacchio.^[6][7]
3. Forms adjectives with an attenuating value: verdacchio “greenish”.^[6][1]

Word family

• batacchio
• spauracchio
• sputacchio
• orsacchio
• verdacchio
• -acchione
• -acchiotto

Related words

• Latin -culum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli