cucinare

Forms

cucinare (first-person singular present cucìno, first-person singular past historic cucinài, past participle cucinàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include chucinare, cusinar and cocinare.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cocināre, a variant of Late Latin coquināre (“to cook”), which is derived from coquīna (“kitchen”).^[4][5][6][1] DEI explains the Late Latin form with ⟨c⟩ as remodelled on Latin cocus (beside coquus (“cook”)); the TLIO and DELI simply derive it from Italian cucina.^[7][2][8] The Latin noun goes back to coquō (“to cook”).^[9]

The verb is found in Italy and the western Romance languages: French cuisiner, Catalan cuinar, Spanish cocinar and Portuguese cozinhar.^[7][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Guittone d'Arezzo (before 1294), with the figurative sense of setting something in order.^[8][2] The sense “to prepare and cook food” follows in Domenico Cavalca (before 1342), who tells of a hermit who saw good herbs “to cook” for the monks' meals.^[8][3]

Semantic evolution

Jacopone da Todi uses the verb for the work of the kitchen, and Ariosto in his Satires asks for someone to cook him a little beef or mutton.^[11][3] The TLIO also records the infinitive used as a noun for the art of cooking.^[2]

The figurative senses developed from the old one: to arrange something suitably, in journalists' jargon to rework an article for publication, and humorously to deal with someone harshly, as in ti cucino io!.^[6][12][13] In recent Internet slang cucinare “to cook” is a semantic loan from English cook, to perform brilliantly.^[1]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses cucinare figuratively.^[8][2]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for preparing food.^[8][3]
• 14th century – The noun cucinatore “cook” is recorded.^[7]
• 16th century – Cucinatura is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cook, prepare and cook food: Stasera cucino il pesce al forno.^[6][5][9]
2. Used without an object, to do the cooking, or to be able to cook: Mio nonno cucina benissimo.^[6][5][12]
3. (figurative, informal) To arrange or put into shape; in journalism, to rework an article for publication.^[6][5][13]
4. (humorous) To deal with someone harshly, or win them over: Adesso lo sistemo io, lo cucino a dovere.^[6][9][14]
5. (Internet slang) To do something brilliantly.^[1]

Word family

• cucinabile
• cucinatore
• cucinatura
• cucinazione
• ricucinare

Related words

• cucina
• cuocere
• cuoco
• Latin coquīna

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1184
8. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli