boccale

boccale¹ oral

Etymology tree of boccale¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin bucca

Catalan boca

French bouche

Italian bocca

Italian boccale

Romanian bucă

Spanish boca

From the same root · boccale¹

Latin buccella ← bucca

Latin buccula ← bucca

French bouchée ← bouche

Italian imboccare ← bocca

Pronunciation

• /bokˈka.le/^[1]

Forms

boccale m or f (plural boccali)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “oral” is formed from Italian bocca (“mouth”) + -ale, with the adjective suffix of relation.^[2][3][1] The dictionaries date it to the second half of the 19th century.^[2][4][5]

It is a separate formation from the noun boccale “jug”, which only looks as if it came from the word for mouth.^[6][7] Beside it stands the more learned form buccale, which goes back to Latin bucca (“cheek; mouth”) directly.^[8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the adjective to 1865, and GRADIT and Devoto–Oli to 1892, in the sense “of the mouth”.^[4][2][5] The Battaglia dictionary records it as a rare synonym of orale.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The adjective has stayed a technical word of anatomy, medicine and zoology, used in fixed phrases such as cavità boccale “oral cavity” and apparato boccale, the mouthparts of insects.^[8][3][5] In dentistry it also names the side of a tooth that faces the cheek.^[2][10]

In these uses it alternates with the more learned buccale, which some dictionaries give as a variant spelling.^[8][3][4]

Timeline

• 1865 – First record of the adjective according to Zingarelli.^[4]
• 1892 – The date GRADIT and Devoto–Oli give for the adjective.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (anatomy, medicine, zoology) Of or relating to the mouth; oral: cavità boccale, the oral cavity;^[2][5][8][1] apparato boccale, the mouthparts of an insect.^[2][5][8][1]
2. (dentistry) Of the surface of a tooth that faces the cheek.^[2][10]

boccale² jug, tankard

Pronunciation

• /bokˈka.le/^[1]

Forms

boccale m (plural boccali)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the jug is inherited from Late Latin baucalis (“earthenware vessel for cooling water or wine”), a word of the 5th century, attracted in form to bocca (“mouth”).^{[6][11][2][12]} The connection with the word for mouth is only apparent: it is folk etymology.^[6][11] The Late Latin word was taken from Ancient Greek βαύκαλις (baúkalis), a narrow-necked vessel for keeping drinks cool.^[6][11][13] Its origin is debated: DELI names either an Egyptian source or the Greek verb βαυκαλάω (baukaláō, “to lull”), chosen in jest or for the gurgle of the liquid as it is poured.^[6] Wiktionary considers a Berber or Egyptian origin probable.^[1]

Documents in the Latin of Italy have the word long before the first Italian texts: Medieval Latin bocale at Cicolano in 1252, bocalus at Venice in 1290, bocales in Istria in 1322.^[6] Sicilian bucali kept the vowel of the Late Latin word, without the influence of the word for “mouth”.^[1][7]

The LEI considers the Gallo-Romance and Ibero-Romance forms to be loans from Italian: French bocal (as boucal in Rabelais, 1532), Catalan bocal (from 1492) and Spanish bocal (from 1517).^[13] Northern Italian forms with ⟨p⟩ seem to come back from German Pokal, which was itself borrowed from Italian.^[13][14] Meyer-Lübke also traced Engadine and Occitan forms to the Italian word.^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Sienese poem of Ruggieri Apugliese from the middle of the 13th century, where boccali are drinking vessels.^[16][13] DELI dates the Italian word to 1390, in Ferrarese texts, and Sacchetti uses it before 1400 also for a measure.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From the vessel the word passed to the quantity of liquid it holds (un boccale di vino is already in the TLIO), and to a measure of capacity for wine and oil whose value changed from city to city: about 0.8 litres at Milan, 1.1 at Florence, 1.3 at Bologna.^[16][8][2] The phrase a boccali means “in great quantity”.^[2][4][17]

In northern Italy the word also meant a chamber pot, a sense Tassoni records before 1635 and the dialects still have (Venetian bocàl).^[6][18][8] Today the typical boccale is the beer mug, often of glass or decorated ceramic with a hinged metal lid.^[8][2]

The word spread north of the Alps: German Pokal was recorded in 1479 for a jug and later meant a cup and a sports trophy.^[14] French bocal (1532) came to mean a glass jar, and English had boccale as the name of the measure in 1593.^[14] Wiktionary lists loans in Middle Dutch, Greek, Hungarian and Ottoman Turkish as well.^[1]

Timeline

• 1250s – Ruggieri Apugliese uses boccali for drinking vessels.^[16][13]
• 1252 – Medieval Latin bocale is recorded at Cicolano.^[6]
• 1290 – Medieval Latin bocalus is recorded at Venice.^[6]
• 1390 – Ferrarese texts use the Italian word.^[6]
• Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses it also for a measure.^[6]
• 1479 – German bockal is first recorded.^[14]
• 1532 – French boucal appears in Rabelais.^[14][13]
• 1593 – English boccale, the measure, is recorded.^[14]
• Before 1635 – Alessandro Tassoni uses it for a chamber pot.^[6]
• 1955 – Boccaleria “the art of majolica” is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A jug or tankard: a pot-bellied vessel with a handle and often a spout, used to pour or drink liquids; also a beer stein, sometimes with a lid: un boccale di ceramica col coperchio.^[2][5][8][1]
2. The liquid a boccale holds, a jugful: ordinarono due boccali di birra.^[2][3][8]
3. (historical, metrology) An old unit of capacity for wine and oil, of different value in each region.^[2][5][8]
4. (regional, northern Italy) A chamber pot.^[5][8][1]

Word family

• boccalino
• boccaletto
• boccalaio
• boccaleria