fioccare

Forms

fioccare (first-person singular present fiòcco, first-person singular past historic fioccài, past participle fioccàto, auxiliary èssere)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian fiocco, formed with the verb ending -are.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Wiktionary takes it from Vulgar Latin *floccāre, from floccus (“tuft”), and compares Neapolitan scioccare.^[1] Latin already had floccō (“to pluck the nap”), formed from the noun.^[1]

The Italian noun has the same Latin source, a word of uncertain origin.^[3][7] De Vaan finds no etymology, and judges the comparison with Old High German blaha (“coarse linen cloth”) too vague.^[8] Wiktionary also offers a Germanic source.^[1] The noun is panromance: French floc, Occitan floc, Catalan floc, Spanish fleco, Portuguese froco and Romanian floc.^[7] Meyer-Lübke lists this verb, in the sense “to snow”, and Old Occitan flocar (“to spread”) among its derivatives.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Pietro da Bescapè's Lombard poem of 1274, where it is used impersonally for snow falling in flakes.^[6][7] DELI's first record is Cecco d'Ascoli, before 1327.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also said the air fiocca di neve, and used the verb for anything falling thick from above, and reflexively for people flocking in great numbers.^[6] Dante uses it in Paradiso 27 for the souls rising like snowflakes, and Petrarch for a face whiter che neve … che senza venti in un bel colle fiocchi “than snow falling without wind on a fair hill”.^[10][11]

From snowflakes falling thick came the figurative sense of things that come in great quantity, recorded in Antonio Pucci before 1388.^[3] Today it is used of blows, fines, protests and applause, and less often of people crowding to a place.^{[2][4][12][13]} A technical transitive sense in weaving, to give cloth a velvety pile, is recorded in the GDLI supplement.^[11]

Timeline

• 1274 – Pietro da Bescapè uses the verb for snow, the first record.^[6][7]
• Before 1327 – Cecco d'Ascoli uses it for falling in flakes.^[3]
• Before 1388 – Antonio Pucci uses it for things coming in abundance.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) Of snow, to fall in flakes: Fuori la neve fioccava piano.^{[2][14][15][4]}
2. (impersonal) To snow: Ha fioccato tutta la mattina.^{[2][4][15][1]}
3. (figurative) To come thick and fast, to shower down in great numbers: Dopo il discorso fioccarono le critiche.^{[2][14][4][16]}
4. (figurative, uncommon) Of people, to flock to a place in large numbers.^[14][12][13]

Word family

• rifioccare

Related words

• fiocco
• Latin floccus

Usage notes

The verb takes essere; used impersonally for snowing it may also take avere.^[14][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana