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calcio

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Italian has two words spelled calcio, both from Latin calx: the kick, together with the butt of a gun, from calx “heel”, and the chemical element, from calx “lime”.[1][2][3] DELI gives the butt of a gun a heading of its own and numbers the element 3;[1][2] Nocentini puts the kick and the butt under one word and numbers the element 2.[1][2]

calcio1 kick; football; butt of a gun

Pronunciation

  • /ˈkal.t͡ʃo/[3]

Forms

calcio m (plural calci)[3]

Etymology

The kick is inherited from Latin calx (“heel”), from the stem “calc-”.[1][3][4] The LEI takes “calcio” as a form of the Latin word moved into the “-o” declension, beside calce “heel” in Old Umbrian and Marchigian.[5] Nocentini treats it as an Italian derivative of “calce” in the sense “heel”, while DEI, GDLI and Devoto–Oli derive the kick from the verb calciare (“to kick”), or from the plural “calci”.[2][6][7][8] The Latin word survives in Sardinian calche (“kick”), Spanish coz (“kick”) and Portuguese couce (“kick; heel”), while elsewhere it was replaced by Late Latin calcaneum.[6][9][10]

The origin of Latin “calx” “heel” is unclear: de Vaan finds a link with Baltic and Slavic words for parts of the leg, such as Lithuanian kulkšnis (“ankle”), doubtful at best, and an Etruscan origin has been proposed without a concrete source.[11][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the sense “heel” calcio is recorded at Florence in the Fiori di filosafi (1264); the TLIO's first “kick” is in the Novellino, a Florentine work of the late 13th century, and DELI's in Jacopone da Todi (before 1306).[5][12][1]

Semantic evolution

Dante praises “the kicks that Heliodorus got” (Purgatorio 20), and Boccaccio's Martellino is beaten with fists and kicks.[7][13] The sense “lower end, foot” of a spear, a tree or a mountain grew from “heel”; the butt of a gun is first recorded in 1690.[1][13][4]

The game is first named by Machiavelli (before 1527): calcio was the old Florentine ball game played by two teams like an ordered battle, in which the ball was struck with the foot or the fist.[1][14] When football came back from England at the end of the 19th century it was first called foot-ball, and calcio replaced the English name in the 1900s–1920s.[1][15][14] Calciatore “footballer” is from the early 20th century and calcistico from about 1930.[2][1] English recorded calcio for the Florentine game about 1635, and German has Calcio from 1838.[14]

Il calcio dell'asino, “the donkey's kick”, is a cowardly blow to someone who can no longer defend himself, from Phaedrus's fable of the dying lion.[1][16]

Timeline

  • 1264 – Calcio “heel” is recorded in the Fiori di filosafi.[5]
  • Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it for a kick.[12]
  • Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi has calcio and calciare.[1]
  • Before 1527 – Machiavelli names the Florentine ball game.[1][14]
  • About 1635 – English records calcio for the Florentine game.[14]
  • 1690 – The butt of a gun is first called calcio.[1]
  • 1838 – German Calcio is recorded for the Florentine game.[14]
  • 1905 – Calcio is recorded for association football.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A kick: a blow with the foot, or with an animal's hind leg: Il cavallo gli ha dato un calcio.[4][15][16]
  2. (sport) football, soccer: Il sabato giocano a calcio nel parco.[4][8][15]
  3. (sport) A kick of the ball: calcio di rigore (penalty kick), calcio d'angolo (corner kick), calcio di punizione (free kick).[16][17]
  4. The butt of a rifle; the grip of a pistol.[4][8][15]
  5. (literary) The foot of a tree or a mountain, (archaic) the heel.[4][15][18]

Word family

  • calciare
  • scalciare
  • calciatore
  • calcistico
  • calcetto
  • calciobalilla
  • calciomercato
  • calciatura
  • calciolo

calcio2 calcium

Pronunciation

  • /ˈkal.t͡ʃo/[3]

Forms

calcio m (plural calci)[3]

Etymology

The element is borrowed from New Latin calcium, the name given to the metal isolated by Humphry Davy in 1808, from Latin calx (“lime”).[6][2][3] The same word is French calcium and Spanish calcio.[2] The Latin “calx” “lime” is a different word from “calx” “heel”, and the source of calce “lime”; de Vaan takes it from Ancient Greek χάλιξ (khálix, “pebble, gravel”), or from another Mediterranean language that lent it to both Latin and Greek.[11][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in a Bolognese dictionary of 1820;[1][2] Nocentini dates the word to before 1830.[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Calcico “containing calcium” is recorded from 1865, calcificazione from 1875 and calcificare from the 19th century.[1][2] The element was prepared pure by Bunsen in 1854.[6] Its compounds are many: carbonato di calcio is the main part of limestone and of the skeleton of vertebrates.[7]

Timeline

  • 1808 – Davy isolates the element, named calcium in New Latin.[6]
  • 1820 – Calcio “calcium” appears in a Bolognese dictionary.[1]
  • 1865 – Calcico is recorded.[1]
  • 1875 – Calcificazione is recorded.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (chemistry) calcium, the silvery-white alkaline earth metal with atomic number 20 and symbol Ca.[7][3]

Word family

  • calcico
  • calcificare
  • calcificazione
  • decalcificare
  • calce
  • calcagno
  • Latin calx

Usage notes

Prendere a calci means “to kick someone around”, dare un calcio alla fortuna “to throw away a stroke of luck”, and dare calci all'aria “to get angry to no purpose”, once also “to be hanged”.[4][16][17] In music calcio is also the heel of a bow, where the frog sits.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 9, 1540
  6. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 674
  7. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  11. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  12. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  13. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  15. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  16. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  18. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli