Etymologically
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fico

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fico1 fig

Pronunciation

Forms

fico m (plural fichi or (Old Italian) fìcora, diminutive fichìno, augmentative ficóne, pejorative ficàccio, derogatory ficùccio)[1] The Old Italian plural ficora and the form figo, used by Dante in rhyme, are now obsolete.[1][2][3]

Etymology

The fig is inherited from Latin fīcus (“fig tree; fig”), through the form fīcum.[4][5][6][1] Latin used the feminine noun for both the tree and the fruit, and a neuter took shape in Late Latin for the fruit; the Romance languages then distinguished the tree in various ways, often with a derivative, as in French figuier, Spanish higuera and Tuscan ficaia.[5]

The word is pan-Romance: Old French fi (later figue, taken from Occitan), Spanish higo, Portuguese figo, Logudorese figu and Aromanian hic; Occitan figa and Catalan figa are feminine.[5][7]

The Latin word comes from a language spoken before Indo-European.[4][6] It resembles Ancient Greek σῦκον (sûkon) and Old Armenian թուզ (tʻuz), but not closely enough for a regular correspondence, which points to a loan from a Mediterranean substrate language.[5][8][1] Wiktionary also mentions a possible Semitic source, comparing Phoenician 𐤐𐤀𐤂 (pʾg, “half-ripe fig”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia quae dicuntur, from the last quarter of the 12th century, where it names the tree.[3] DELI dates the tree to a Florentine text of 1256 and the fruit to a Florentine register of 1287 and to Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294.[4][6]

Semantic evolution

From the end of the 13th century the fig stood for something worthless, in negative phrases meaning “nothing at all” (before 1300, Rustico Filippi), as in today's non me ne importa un fico secco.[4][3][6] Old Italian also named many kinds by colour and season, such as fico fiore, the early fig, and fico secco, the dried fig.[3]

The name was given to swellings shaped like a fig: a fleshy growth on the body and a growth on a horse's foot.[3][2] DEI treats the medical sense as a learned word modelled on Greek.[9] The fico d'India (1565), the prickly pear, is so called because it came from the West Indies.[5] In Tuscan fichi are also affectations and coaxing words.[6][10]

English borrowed the word as fico before 1577, also for a trifle and in to give the fico, the gesture of contempt.[11]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – The Proverbia quae dicuntur use the word.[3]
  • 1256 – A Florentine text names the fig tree.[4]
  • 1287 – The fruit is named in a Florentine register.[4]
  • Before 1300 – Rustico Filippi uses fico for “nothing”.[4]
  • 1565 – Fico d'India is recorded.[5]
  • Before 1577 – English fico is recorded.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A fig, the sweet fruit with a soft pulp full of small seeds, eaten fresh or dried: A colazione mangiò pane e fichi.[6][12][13]
  2. The fig tree (Ficus carica), a Mediterranean tree with large lobed leaves.[6][12][13]
  3. (botany) Any tree of the genus Ficus.[6][12]
  4. (colloquial) In negative phrases, nothing at all: non capire un fico.[6][12][10]
  5. (veterinary) A purulent infection in a horse's hoof.[6][12][13]
  6. (figurative) A badly done darn.[6][12]
  7. (Tuscan, chiefly plural) Affected manners, coaxing.[6][10][14]

Word family

  • ficaia
  • ficheto
  • ficosecco
  • ficodindia
  • caprifico
  • beccafico

fico2 cool

Pronunciation

Forms

fico (feminine fica, masculine plural fichi, feminine plural fiche, superlative fichissimo)[1] The regional northern form is figo.[12][13][15]

Etymology

The slang word is usually derived from fica “vulva”: Nocentini explains it as a masculine made from the feminine, a crude compliment that women paid to men as men did to women, whose crudeness faded through its likeness to the word for “fig”.[5][6][12][13][15] The feminine noun comes from the same Latin fīcus.[7][16] Treccani instead takes it from the word for “fig”, perhaps with reference to the feminine.[10] Wiktionary traces it to a Romanesco clipping of ⟨ficaccio⟩, an alteration of efficace (“effective”), and denies a link with the vulgar noun; the LEI records Romanesco ⟨ficaccia⟩ “effective” in Belli (1835).[1][17]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the slang word to 1959;[15][6][5][12] GRADIT, Nocentini and Devoto–Oli to 1972.[15][6][5][12] It praises a person for skill, charm, looks or style.[6]

Semantic evolution

In youth slang the word praises both people and things that are fashionable or fun, with the superlative fichissimo.[6][13][1] Treccani records the diminutives fichetto and fichino, mostly for a vain young man.[10]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (slang) cool, great; of a person, attractive or stylish: Che fico il tuo nuovo motorino![6][12][13]

Noun

  1. (slang) An attractive or admired person, especially a young man: Si crede un gran fico.[6][12][13]

Word family

  • fichetto

Usage notes

A third fico (1956), from Ancient Greek φύκης (phýkēs, “a fish living among seaweed”), is a fish of the cod family (Phycis blennioides) found on muddy sea floors.[15][6] An old fico “a seaweed used for dye” is a learned word from Greek.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 437
  3. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1633
  10. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  11. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  15. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  16. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  17. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 235
  18. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 5, 936