berbice

Forms

berbice f (plural berbici)^[2][3] The TLIO records the word as both feminine and masculine, with the Old Italian forms berbece, berbicce, berbis, berbixi, berbize and barbisi.^[4] Wiktionary gives it as masculine.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin berbex, the later form of Latin vervex (“wether, castrated ram”).^[2][1][4][5] The Latin word, known from Plautus and Varro, shows the change of ⟨v⟩ to ⟨b⟩ in verbex and then berbex, already in Petronius, and an accusative with ⟨-ī-⟩ is in Flavius Vopiscus in the 4th century.^[6][7] In late texts, chiefly in Gaul, the word came to mean “sheep” in general and replaced ovis.^[6][7]

Gallo-Romance is the word's main home: Old French berbiz (about 1090), French brebis and Old Occitan berbitz.^[6][8] It is also in Surselvan berbeisch, in Romanian berbec (“ram”), in Dalmatian berbec and in Logudorese berveghe.^[6][7] Central Italy otherwise says pecora, so the LEI suggests that the Tuscan word may be an early loan from Gallo-Romance, as the DEI also suspected; the forms stressed on the first syllable in the dictionaries show that the word was not truly popular.^[6][7] GDLI calls it a learned word.^[9]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *werw-ē- and weighs a link with the Indo-European word for “lamb” against one with Ancient Greek εἶρος (eîros, “wool”), “the male woolly one”; both are difficult.^[10] The DEI thinks it pre-Indo-European, and Devoto compares Latin verres (“boar”).^[7][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word to about 1250.^[2] The LEI's first Italian records are Venetian barbisi “dupes, cuckolds” in the Proverbia que dicuntur super natura feminarum (about 1250) and berbici “sheep” in an Italian translation of Frederick II's treatise; the TLIO dates the Proverbia to the last quarter of the 12th century.^[6][4] The Novellino (end of the 13th century) tells of a peasant who went to market to buy berbici, sheep.^[9][12]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word meant a sheep or ram, and figuratively a fool, a “sheep”: Genoese berbixi (1311) and the later vil barbisi have this sense.^[4][6] The Italian Marco Polo says of one people that they have montoni né berbici, neither rams nor sheep, but oxen, and a letter of Pier delle Vigne mourns that the shepherd of the Church's berbici has become a ravening wolf.^[12]

From the 17th century dictionaries record berbice for a goat or wether, and barbice was listed up to Tommaseo.^[6] The word is now obsolete, and Gabrielli marks it as Tuscan.^[2][5]

Timeline

• About 810 – The Medieval Latin Brevium exempla in Gaul list berbices cum agnis (“ewes with lambs”).^[6]
• 846 – The Latin form is recorded in Lombardy.^[7]
• About 1250 – Venetian barbisi “dupes” in the Proverbia.^[6]
• End of the 13th century – The Novellino has berbice “sheep”.^[6][7]
• 1291 – Florentine berbici is recorded.^[6][3]
• 1311 – Genoese berbixi “fools”.^[6]
• 1602 – Pergamini records berbice “goat, wether”.^[6]
• 1760 – Antonini lists bèrbice as an old word.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (obsolete) A sheep; a ram or wether.^[2][3][4]
2. (obsolete, figurative) A foolish person.^[4]

Related words

• Latin vervex
• French brebis
• Romanian berbec

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 5, 1188
7. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 491
8. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 179
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET