buccia

Forms

buccia f (plural bucce)^[1] Older forms include Old Italian bucchia, Old Italian bucia and Old Italian buça.^[2] In western Tuscany the parallel form bucchia has the same meaning.^[3][1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[4][5][6] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli hold that it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *būcea, formed from *būca (the source of buca), a variant of Latin bucca (“cheek”) that had come to mean a swelling, a crust or a rind.^[3][7] Nocentini finds support in the parallel bucchia, from *būcula, and in the verb sbucchiare beside sbucciare.^[3] The LEI places the word in the large family of *bokky- (“to prick; to pierce”).^[8][2]

DELI thinks it unlikely to come from *lobūcea, from *loba, of very obscure origin seen in the northern lova (“shell, pod”), because ⟨b⟩ would have become ⟨v⟩.^[8][9] DEI called the word obscure and suggested, on the evidence of northern dialects where the word for skin also means peel, a connection with Latin praeputium (“foreskin”), which later meant skin and fruit peel in general; it thought both words relics of a Mediterranean language.^[9] Wiktionary mentions a borrowing from German Borke (“bark”) among other theories.^[1]

The word is Tuscan, reaching the northern Marche and northern Sardinia, and is unknown in the south.^[9] The form Medieval Latin bucea, a bark used as a medicine, is recorded at Modena in the 14th century.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Florentine document of 1262–75, and its first sense is the outer skin of fruits, tubers and almonds.^[2][5] DELI dates the peel of fruits from Zucchero Bencivenni in 1310 and the skin of a human being from Giordano da Pisa in 1305–06.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the word for the young, soft bark of plants and for the skin of animals and people.^[2] Marco Polo distinguished the thick bark (buccia grossa) from the thin inner bark (buccia sottile), from which paper was made, early in the 14th century.^[8][11] Dante used it for a surface in general: the flame of oily things moves pur su per la strema buccia (“only along the outer surface”).^[7][6]

From 1584 the word also named any film or crust.^[8] From the 17th century it also named the skin round the seed of some fruits, such as almonds.^[8] Jocular uses for human skin led to the sense of life itself, as in rimetterci la buccia, to lose one's life, and avere la buccia dura, to be tough.^[4][6] Rivedere le bucce a qualcuno means to examine someone's work and look for every fault.^[5][6] Pisan dialect used the word for a woman of bad repute.^[9]

Timeline

• 1262–1275 – Buccia appears in a Florentine document.^[2]
• 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for human skin.^[8]
• 1310 – Zucchero Bencivenni uses it for the peel of fruits.^[8]
• Early 14th century – Marco Polo distinguishes thick and thin bark.^[8]
• 14th century – Medieval Latin bucea, a medicinal bark, is recorded at Modena.^[9]
• 1584 – Raffaello Borghini uses it for a film or crust.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The peel or skin of fruits, tubers and the like: Sbuccia la pera e butta la buccia nell'umido.^{[4][7][12][1]}
2. The thin skin round the seed of some fruits, as almonds.^[4][7][5]
3. The young, soft bark of plants.^[4][7][12]
4. The rind or casing of cheeses and sausages.^[4][12][1]
5. The skin of some animals, especially reptiles;^[4][7][6] (jocular) human skin, and (figurative) life itself: salvare la buccia, to save one's skin.^[4][7][6]
6. The outward appearance or surface of something.^[4][12][13]

Word family

• sbucciare
• sbucciatura
• bucciato
• buccioso

Related words

• bucchia
• bocca
• buca

Usage notes

Buccia di banana is a banana skin, and scivolare su una buccia di banana means to come to grief through a trivial cause.^[6][4] Pelle a buccia d'arancia is orange-peel skin.^[4][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 622
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 419
12. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana