ciocco

Forms

ciocco m (plural ciocchi)^[1] Northern Old Italian texts write çocho, çocchi and çocche.^[2]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain, and GRADIT, Zingarelli, Treccani and the GDLI leave it open.^[3][4][5][6] DELI finds it hard to derive the word from Latin soccus (“a light shoe”), as DEI does, and points out that it seems to be of northern origin, citing Romagnol zòch, Venetian zòco and Lombard sciüch in the same sense.^[7]

DEI and Nocentini do derive it from Latin: it is inherited from Latin soccus, the source of zoccolo, in the sense of a roughly cut piece of wood.^[8][9] Nocentini supports the change of meaning with Catalan soca and Occitan soca, “piece of wood”, beside soc “clog”.^[8] He notes that French souche “stump” is harder, since it needs a base *succus or *tsuccus that nobody has explained.^[8] Wiktionary starts from Vulgar Latin *tsucca, taken from Gaulish *tsukka and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *stukkaz (“stock, stump”).^[1] Latin soccus itself was taken from Ancient Greek σύκχος (súkkhos, “a kind of shoe”).^[1]

Older proposals are a blend of cippus (the source of ceppo) with the same Latin word, passed through the northern dialects, in Devoto; a link with cioncare, in Devoto–Oli; and, in Körting and Zaccaria, a Germanic origin in Middle High German schoc (“heap”).^{[10][11][12][13]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dante's Paradiso (1313–1319), of logs burning on the fire: come nel percuoter d’i ciocchi arsi / surgono innumerabili faville (“as when burning logs are struck, countless sparks rise”).^[2][3][11]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the word also meant any large piece of wood, and northern texts, an Emilian treatise of 1360 and a Venetian statute of 1366, use it in the form çocho.^[2] Its core sense is the swollen base of a tree trunk, where the roots branch out, and the block of firewood cut from it.^[3][11][5]

From the log as a dull, motionless thing come the phrases dormire come un ciocco, to sleep like a log, and restare come un ciocco, to stand dazed, and the figurative sense of a dull or insensitive person, which Tommaseo already records.^[3][4][14] A Tuscan proverb in Giusti's collection says that still water carries no logs, but if it does, they are big ones (Acqua cheta non mena ciocchi; se gli mena gli mena grossi).^[14] The diminutive ciocchetto is recorded from the early 19th century.^[9]

Timeline

• 1313–1319 – Dante uses ciocchi for burning logs in the Paradiso.^[3][11][2]
• 1360 – An Emilian text uses çocho for a piece of wood.^[2]
• 1366 – A Venetian statute uses the word for firewood.^[2]
• Early 19th century – The diminutive ciocchetto appears.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The thickened lower part of a tree trunk, from which the roots branch out.^[3][11][5]
2. A large piece of wood for burning, a log, ceppo: Gettò un altro ciocco nel camino.^{[3][15][4][5][1]}
3. (figurative) A dull or insensitive person, slow to react: Non capisce niente, è proprio un ciocco.^[3][4][16]

Word family

• ciocchetto
• acciocchire
• inciocchire

Related words

• ceppo
• zoccolo
• zocco

Usage notes

Dormire come un ciocco is to sleep soundly, and restare or rimanere come un ciocco to be left dazed.^[3][11][5] Ciocca is a rare synonym.^[4]

A separate regional ciocco “knock, blow, collision”, recorded from 1961 in Umberto Simonetta, is perhaps imitative, according to GRADIT, and a variant of chiocco, according to Devoto–Oli.^[3][11] The GDLI supplement records a regional ciocco “sharp scolding, violent quarrel”, from the verb cioccare, in Buzzati and Simonetta.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 166
7. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 950
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
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. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
14. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca