capriccio

Forms

capriccio m (plural capricci)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2][3][1] Most dictionaries derive it from the older Old Italian caporiccio, recorded at the turn of the 14th century in the poems of Meo dei Tolomei and Cecco Angiolieri.^[2][4][5][6] Nocentini, the TLIO and Wiktionary read that word as from Italian capo (“head”) + riccio (“curly; hedgehog”), a head with its hair on end.^[7][4][1] For the old sense “shudder of horror” the image is the hair that bristles with fear; for the later sense “whim” Nocentini and Wiktionary point to the belief that curly hair was a sign of a wilful, unruly character.^[7][1] Migliorini and Devoto also start from a curly head, as DELI reports.^[2]

DEI and Prati, following Ascoli, instead take the first part from a form *capora (“heads”), used for Latin capita, the plural of the Latin word for “head”, which is also seen in caporale.^[8][2][9] DELI finds no convincing etymology and allows that capriccio “horror”, to which raccapriccio and accapricciare belong, and capriccio “whim” may have separate sources and have merged in sound, since the link between the two senses is far from clear.^[2] GRADIT also calls it uncertain, and suggests a Medieval Latin capra (“goat”) behind the old word.^[10]

The first part continues caput, from Proto-Indo-European *káput, and the second ērīcius (“hedgehog”).^[1][11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Bono Giamboni's translation of Orosius (Florence, 1292), where riprezzo, ovvero capriccio means horror, shuddering: people drank from skulls “without disgust”.^[4][2][7] Francesco da Buti, commenting on Dante between 1385 and 1395, glosses capriccio as “fear”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “horror, shudder” lived on in literature until Parini in the 18th century.^[2][10] The modern sense, a strange idea or sudden desire, appears in Pietro Aretino's Ragionamenti (1534) and spread quickly: capriccioso is in Vasari in 1550, both “full of whims” and “of bizarre imagination”.^[2][13] In the arts of the 16th and 17th centuries a capriccio was a fanciful invention.^[13][10] Since 1758 it named a free instrumental piece of capricious character, such as Paganini's caprices.^[2][13][10] Tommaseo's dictionary (1865) adds a passing love affair.^[2]

The word spread to the other languages of Europe: French caprice (1558) and Spanish capricho are borrowings from Italian.^[7][13] English has capriccio from 1601, caprice through French from the 1660s, and German Capriccio from 1619.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses capriccio for “horror”.^[4][2]
• About 1300 – Caporiccio is recorded in Meo dei Tolomei and Cecco Angiolieri.^[4][2]
• 1385–1395 – Francesco da Buti glosses capriccio as “fear”.^[4]
• 1534 – Pietro Aretino uses it for a bizarre idea or desire.^[2][13]
• 1550 – Vasari uses capriccioso.^[2]
• 1558 – French caprice is first recorded.^[13]
• 1601 – English capriccio is first recorded.^[13]
• 1758 – Lacombe records the musical sense.^[2][13]
• 1865 – Tommaseo's dictionary records the sense “passing infatuation”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A whim, caprice: a sudden, odd desire or idea, often short-lived: Si è comprato la moto per capriccio.^[10][15][3]
2. Obstinacy, a wish pursued out of mere stubbornness.^[10]
3. A tantrum of a child: fare i capricci (to throw tantrums).^[10][15][1]
4. A passing love affair, an infatuation.^[10][15][3]
5. An odd, unexpected event: un capriccio del clima.^[10][15][3]
6. (music) A capriccio: an instrumental piece in free form and fanciful character.^[10][15][3]
7. (art) In literature and painting, especially of the 16th and 17th centuries, a fanciful invention, and in painting, an imaginary landscape or architectural view.^[10][15]
8. (furnishing) A draped valance over a window.^[10][15][3]
9. (archaic) A shudder of horror, revulsion.^[10][15][3]

Word family

• capriccioso
• incapricciarsi
• raccapricciare
• raccapriccio
• raccapricciante
• scapricciare
• accapricciare

Related words

• capo
• riccio
• caporale
• French caprice
• English capriccio

Usage notes

A capriccio means on impulse, without thought, and in music, as the performer likes, ad libitum.^[15][16] DEI and the TLIO record an old variant caprezzo, which Prati takes as capriccio blended with riprezzo “shudder”.^[5][4][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 745
9. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 234
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 577
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)