coccola

coccola¹ juniper berry

Pronunciation

• /ˈkɔk.ko.la/^[2]

Forms

coccola f (plural coccole)^[2]

Etymology

The word for the juniper berry is from Latin coccum (“kernel of fruit, berry”), a Romance diminutive with the suffix of -olo in the feminine.^[3][4][1][2] The diminutive is already Medieval Latin coccola in Medieval Latin, which Tommaseo and the GDLI cite from Bede.^[5][6] Nocentini numbers this word second and the cuddle first.^[4]

The Latin word also lives on in French coque “shell of a nut or egg” and Spanish coca “berry”.^[4] Meyer-Lübke gives the derivative as a berry, a cypress cone and a head in Italian, with dialect relatives naming nuts and shells.^[7]

The Latin noun is usually traced to Ancient Greek κόκκος (kókkos, “grain, seed, berry”) as a loan.^[2][8][9] Nocentini thinks instead that the Latin and Greek words are parallel formations of imitative origin.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Rime of Franco Sacchetti (14th century, Florentine), where berries serve as an ornament in women's hair.^[10] DELI dates the word, with a query, to a 14th-century Libro di viaggi, in which a plant bears “red berries in great quantity” (coccole rosse in grandissima quantità).^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

From the juniper the name spread to similar fruits of laurel, cypress, myrtle and other plants;^[5][6] Piero Vettori in the 16th century noted that people said coccole d’alloro and coccole di ginepro but not coccole d’ulivo.^[5][6] Coccole di Levante are the poisonous fruits of an Indo-Malayan shrub of the moonseed family.^[11][12]

Jokingly the word meant the head, as in Luigi Pulci's sicché comincia a girar loro la coccola (so that their heads begin to spin), and also a blow; both uses are now old.^{[12][11][6][9]} Tommaseo links the blow with cocca or accoccare.^[6] Nocentini derives coccolone “stroke” from this jocular sense of a blow.^[4] Small round objects and trifles are a further figurative sense.^[1][13]

Timeline

• Second half of the 14th century – Franco Sacchetti uses coccole for berries.^[10]
• 14th century – a Libro di viaggi mentions coccole rosse.^[3]
• 15th century – Luigi Pulci uses coccola jokingly for the head.^[11]
• 16th century – Piero Vettori discusses coccole d’alloro and coccole di ginepro.^[5]
• 1964 – coccolone “stroke” is first recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) The fleshy berry-like cone of the juniper, made of three or more fused carpels.^[1][13][11]
2. By extension, any similar round fruit of other plants, such as laurel, cypress or myrtle.^[1][9][14]
3. (figurative) A small round object; in the plural, a trifle, something of no importance.^[1][13][12]
4. (archaic, jocular) The head.^[1][9][11]
5. (archaic, jocular) A blow or knock.^[1][9][6]

Word family

• coccoletta
• coccolone

coccola² cuddle

Pronunciation

• /ˈkɔk.ko.la/^[2]

Forms

coccola f (plural coccole)^[2]

Etymology

The word for the cuddle is from Italian coccolare (“to cuddle, pamper”), a back-formation from the verb.^{[4][13][9][1][2]} The verb, first recorded in 1865, comes from cocco², a children's word for an egg imitating the hen, which in family speech also meant a darling, a favourite child.^[4][3] GRADIT derives the verb from coccolo “chubby or favourite child” instead.^[1][3] Nocentini numbers this word first.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti date the word to 1960, GRADIT and Zingarelli to 1973; it means an affectionate caress, a tender gesture.^{[4][13][9][1][12]}

Semantic evolution

The word is mostly used in the plural, in phrases such as fare le coccole (to cuddle someone) and the need for cuddles.^[1][13][11] The GDLI added it only in its 2004 supplement, as a familiar word.^[15]

Timeline

• 1865 – the verb coccolare is recorded by Tommaseo.^[3][4]
• 1960 – coccola “caress” is first recorded.^[4][13]
• 1973 – the date GRADIT and Zingarelli give for the noun.^[1][12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (familiar, mostly in the plural) A cuddle, an affectionate caress or show of tenderness: fare le coccole, Il gatto cerca coccole tutta la sera.^{[1][13][9][11]}