baccello

Forms

baccello m (plural baccelli)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *baccellum, from a Late Latin variant of Latin bacĭllum (“little stick”) with a different suffix.^[2][3][4][5] The Thesaurus material collected by the LEI has the variants baccillum (manuscripts and glosses), bacchillum (an inscription in Rome) and bacellum (Jerome, Gregory of Tours).^[6][3] The Latin word is the diminutive of baculum (“stick, staff”).^[2][7][1]

According to the LEI, the sense “(full) pod of a legume”, which grew out of “little stick”, seems to be an innovation of Italo-Romance alone, perhaps helped by the continuants of bāca (“berry”) and bacula, which in Tuscan can also mean a pod.^[6][3] Elsewhere the Latin words survive with other senses: Occitan bacel, the name of several tools, Portuguese bacelo (“vine shoot”) and dialectal Spanish bacillo (“vine shoot”).^[6][2]

The sources are not unanimous.^[8][9][1] Meyer-Lübke left the origin open and found a derivation from the word for berry difficult in form; the Treccani calls the etymology uncertain, and Wiktionary suggests bacca (“berry”) with the suffix -ello.^[8][9][1] Zingarelli and Devoto see the Latin word crossed with the word for berry.^[10][11] For the sense “fool”, Körting thought of Latin baceolus (“blockhead”) (Suetonius); DELI and Nocentini explain it instead through the slang sense “penis”, as with fava.^[12][3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Sienese-Umbrian statute of 1314–1316, with the sense of the fruit of a leguminous plant: a long casing holding the edible seeds.^[13] DELI dates the specifically Tuscan sense “fresh broad bean in its pod” to 1344, in the Libro della Mensa, and a Medieval Latin document from Bagnoregio of 1373 has baccellos sive fabas.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the Decameron a lover sends “a little basket of pods” (un canestruccio di baccelli).^[14] Sacchetti's phrase conoscere il baccello dai paternostri, literally to tell the bean pods from the rosary beads, meant telling apart things that only look alike.^[13] The general botanical sense, the pod of any legume, is dated before 1492, in Lorenzo de' Medici.^[3]

From the 15th century Burchiello and others used baccello for the penis, as fava was used.^[4][15] Since 1550 (Giovan Maria Cecchi) it has meant a simpleton;^[3][4][15] baccellone, a big fool, is in Aretino in 1534.^[3][4][15] In architecture baccelletti, carved pod-shaped ornaments, are recorded in 1565, and baccello for such an ornament in 1913.^[3]

Timeline

• 1314–1316 – A Sienese-Umbrian statute has the first record.^[13]
• 1344 – The Libro della Mensa uses it for the fresh broad bean.^[3]
• 1353 – Boccaccio's Decameron mentions a basket of baccelli.^[14][10]
• 1373 – Medieval Latin baccellos sive fabas is recorded at Bagnoregio.^[3]
• Before 1492 – Lorenzo de' Medici uses it for the pod of legumes in general.^[3]
• 1534 – Aretino uses baccellone “simpleton”.^[3]
• 1550 – Giovan Maria Cecchi uses baccello for a simpleton.^[3]
• 1565 – Baccelletti, pod-shaped ornaments, are recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) A pod: the long fruit of the legume family, made of two valves that split open to release the seeds: Abbiamo sgranato i baccelli dei piselli per la cena.^{[5][16][10][9]}
2. (Tuscany) The fresh broad bean, in its pod or as a seed.^{[5][16][9][1]}
3. Baccello greco or baccello dolce: the carob.^[16][9][14]
4. (figurative, Tuscany) A simpleton, a naive and silly person.^[5][17][9]
5. (architecture) A carved ornament shaped like a stylised pod; the same as baccelletto.^[5][10][17]

Word family

• baccelletto
• baccellone
• baccellino
• sbaccellare
• baccellatura

Related words

• bacillo
• bacchio
• fava
• Latin baculum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 394
5. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 4, 257
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 53
12. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
14. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
15. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 94
16. ^ 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
17. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse