Etymologically
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bocca

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Pronunciation

Forms

bocca f (plural bocche)[1] Old Italian forms include boca, bocha, buca and southern vocca and vucca.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin bucca (“cheek; mouth”).[3][4][5][1] The Latin word first meant “cheek”, as it still does in Romanian bucă, and, from Cato onwards also “mouth” in familiar speech, where it displaced the classical Latin ōs (“mouth”).[3][6][7] DELI lists the reasons that have been suggested: confusion with the word for “bone” or with a form of the word for “ear”, the shortness of the monosyllable, or its lack of expressiveness.[3] Nocentini puts it down to the vividness of the new word, shown by its many derivatives and figurative uses.[4] The Latin word also meant “mouthful”, a sense kept in Modern Greek and expressed in Italian by boccone or boccata, the latter from Vulgar Latin *buccāta.[3][8]

The word is found throughout the Romance languages: French bouche, Occitan boca, Catalan boca, Spanish boca, Portuguese boca and Sardinian bucca.[4][6] It was also borrowed outside Romance, into Breton boc'h, Welsh, Albanian, Berber and the Greek of Cyprus.[4][6]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.[4][7] De Vaan finds that the sense “mouth” was at first derogatory, and reports that Ernout and Meillet suspected a Celtic origin, because of its likeness to Latin beccus (“beak”) and Celtic personal names such as Buccus;[7][9] Devoto also thought it Gaulish.[7][9] A link with Germanic words for a swelling would, if right, point to a non-Indo-European source, and the LEI considers an expressive base meaning “swollen”.[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia quae dicuntur super natura feminarum of the late 12th century, in the anatomical sense, the organ through which people and animals take in food.[2] DELI has boca in Giacomo da Lentini (before 1250), bocha in the Bolognese Memoriali of 1282 and bocca in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The sense “lips” appears in Chiaro Davanzati in the 13th century, and Giovanni Villani (before 1348) counted people as bocche to be fed.[3] Dante (1300–1313) used the word for the opening of a container, a pipe or a cavity, and Medieval Latin documents from Venice (1270) and Modena (1327) already have it for the mouth of an oven and of a canal.[3] The mouth of a river is recorded in 15th-century portolans, and in the plural the word named a narrow sea passage from the 13th century, as in Bocche di Bonifacio.[3] Cellini (before 1571) uses it for the muzzle of a firearm, and bocca da fuoco “piece of artillery” is recorded in 1582.[3]

The good-luck wish in bocca al lupo comes from theatre slang, which took it from hunters; it works by contrast, since to go into the wolf's mouth meant certain ruin.[3] The Bocca della Verità in Rome was a stone mask said to bite off the hand of anyone who swore falsely.[3]

English borrowed bocca as a glassmaking term in 1799 and for the mouth of a volcano in 1881.[10]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – The word appears in the Venetian Proverbia quae dicuntur super natura feminarum.[2]
  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses boca.[3]
  • 1270 – Medieval Latin bocas is used for the openings of a furnace at Venice.[3]
  • 1282 – Bocha appears in the Memoriali bolognesi.[3]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for an opening.[3]
  • Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for a person to be fed.[3]
  • Before 1571 – Cellini uses it for the muzzle of a gun.[3]
  • 1582 – Bocca da fuoco “artillery piece” is recorded.[3]
  • 1799 – English borrows bocca as a glassmaking term.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The mouth of a person or an animal: Non si parla con la bocca piena.[5][11][12][1]
  2. The lips: Si è asciugato la bocca col tovagliolo.[5][11][12]
  3. (colloquial) The teeth.[5]
  4. A person counted as someone to feed: In quella famiglia ci sono sei bocche da sfamare.[5][11]
  5. The opening of a container, an oven, a pipe or a wound: la bocca del pozzo.[5][12][13]
  6. (geography) The mouth of a river; in the plural, a strait; a narrow mountain pass.[12][11][3]
  7. The muzzle of a firearm, bocca da fuoco: a piece of artillery.[11][13][3]

Word family

  • boccata
  • boccone
  • bocchino
  • bocchetta
  • boccaccia
  • boccheggiare
  • boccaporto
  • boccaglio
  • abboccare
  • imboccare
  • sboccare
  • rimboccare
  • bocca di leone

Usage notes

Many set phrases use the word: in bocca al lupo (good luck), a bocca aperta (open-mouthed, amazed), a bocca asciutta (empty-handed), acqua in bocca (keep it quiet).[5][11][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v 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 e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 7, 1100
  7. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 545
  9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  11. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  12. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli