cancro

Forms

cancro m (plural cancri)^[1] The popular form is canchero.^[2][3] Old Italian forms include cancer, cancru and cranco.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cancer (“crab; the constellation Cancer; cancer”), a learned word.^[5][2][6][1] The medical sense was already Latin: it is a semantic loan from the medicine of the Greeks, which named a malignant growth after the crab, Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab; tumour”), because its branching veins recall a crab's legs.^[5][7][1] The popular form canchero is an adaptation of the same word, and granchio “crab” continues the later Latin forms Late Latin cancrus and Late Latin crancus.^[2][7][1] The learned word has French cancer, beside the popular French chancre.^[2]

The Latin word is generally explained as a dissimilated form of an earlier Proto-Italic *karkros (“enclosure”), the source of Latin carcer (“prison”); de Vaan suggests that the circle formed by a crab's pincers gave the name, and traces it to Proto-Indo-European *kr-kr-o- (“circular”) with a question mark.^[8][2][9][1] It is compared with the Greek word.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is of the zodiac sign, in Restoro d'Arezzo's Composizione del mondo of 1282.^[5][6] The sense “malignant tumour” follows in Bonvesin de la Riva, before 1315, and “crab” in Cecco d'Ascoli, before 1327.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The crab itself was soon left to granchio: Cecco d'Ascoli and Pulci still used cancro for the animal, as in Pulci's Vedeasi il cancro l'ostrica ingannare, “one saw the crab deceive the oyster”, but the dictionaries now mark this sense as archaic.^[10][11][12] The constellation gave the name of the Tropic of Cancer, already in Old Italian.^[4][13]

Domenico Cavalca tells of a woman struck in the breast by una laida infermità, che si chiama cancro, “a foul illness called cancer”.^[13][14] Veterinary texts of the 15th century use the word for ulcers in the mouths of animals.^[7] The popular canchero kept the sense of disease and also became a curse, ti venga il canchero.^[2][15][7] The figurative sense, a moral vice or corruption, is recorded in Francesco De Sanctis, before 1883.^[5] Botany uses it for the decay of plant tissues, and restorers speak of cancro del bronzo.^[6][11]

Timeline

• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses cancro for the zodiac sign.^[5]
• Before 1315 – Bonvesin de la Riva uses it for a malignant tumour.^[5][4]
• Before 1327 – Cecco d'Ascoli uses it for the crab.^[5]
• 17th century – Canceroso is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1883 – Francesco De Sanctis uses it for a moral vice.^[5]
• 1937 – Cancerogeno “carcinogenic” is recorded.^[2]
• 1946 – Cancerologia is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (colloquial) cancer, a malignant tumour: È morto di cancro ai polmoni.^[6][12][3]
2. (medicine) A carcinoma.^[6][12]
3. (figurative) A deep-rooted evil, an incurable vice: la corruzione è il cancro del paese.^[6][11][3]
4. (figurative) A torment, an obsession: il cancro del rimorso.^[6][3]
5. (botany) canker, the decay of plant tissue caused by parasites.^[6][11][16]
6. Corrosion of bronze or marble.^[11]
7. (astronomy, astrology, usually capitalised) Cancer, the constellation and the fourth sign of the zodiac; a person born under it.^[6][11][12]
8. (archaic) A crab.^[11][12][16]

Word family

• canceroso
• cancerogeno
• cancerologia
• cancerizzarsi
• anticancro
• cancroide

Related words

• cancerologo
• granchio
• canchero
• carcinoma
• Latin cancer
• Latin carcer

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana