-icchiare

Forms

-icchiare (verb-forming suffix, first-person singular present -ìcchio, first-person singular past historic -icchiài, past participle -icchiàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

Nocentini and Devoto–Oli describe it as from Italian -icchio with the endings of the verbs in -are.^[2][3] Sabatini–Coletti, Treccani and Wiktionary take it directly from Latin -iculāre, a suffix that was frequentative at first, drawn from -īculus.^[4][5][1] The noun suffix in turn is the popular outcome of the Latin neuter ending, with the loss of the unstressed vowel and the palatalisation of the cluster /kl/.^[4][2]

Some verbs with the suffix are inherited whole: rosicchiare goes back to a Vulgar Latin *rosiculāre.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest verb with the suffix in DELI is rosicchiare, “to gnaw continually and lightly”, in Buti, in the 14th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Later verbs are formed in Italian from other verbs: canticchiare (1531) and mordicchiare (1895, Fogazzaro).^[7][6] DELI derives dormicchiare (before 1571, Cellini) from a Vulgar Latin intensive of dormītāre, while GRADIT forms it in Italian from dormire.^[7][6]

Timeline

• 14th century – Rosicchiare.^[7][2]
• 1531 – Canticchiare, in the Ingannati.^[7][6]
• Before 1571 – Dormicchiare in Cellini.^[7]
• 1895 – Mordicchiare in Fogazzaro.^[7]

Meanings

Suffix

1. Forms verbs from verbs, with a diminutive or attenuating sense (doing something lightly or a little): canticchiare “to hum”, dormicchiare “to doze”, bevicchiare “to sip”.^{[3][4][8][5][1]}
2. With a frequentative sense (doing something repeatedly): rosicchiare “to nibble”, mordicchiare “to keep biting lightly”.^[4][5][1][7]
3. With a pejorative sense: lavoricchiare “to work half-heartedly”.^[8]

Word family

• rosicchiare
• canticchiare
• dormicchiare
• mordicchiare
• bevicchiare
• salticchiare
• lavoricchiare

Related words

• -icchio
• Latin -iculus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: 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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
6. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli