gallico

Forms

gallico (feminine gallica, masculine plural gallici, feminine plural galliche)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin Gallicus (“of Gaul, Gallic”), which in Medieval Latin also meant “French”.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin adjective is formed from Gallia (“Gaul”) or from Gallus (“a Gaul”), the name of the Celtic people of Gaul.^[3][5][4][1] Nocentini derives the ethnic name from a Celtic root meaning “valour, courage”, which he also sees in gagliardo.^[4]

The phrase Latin canis Gallicus (“Gallic dog”), in Ovid and Martial, gave Spanish galgo (“greyhound”) and Portuguese galgo.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Storie de Troia e de Roma from Rome, 1252–1258, for things of Gaul as a Roman territory and province.^[7] DELI dates the word to a 14th-century translation of Livy, and its use for “French” to the 14th-century Anonimo romano.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word described the Gauls, their land and their army, in the guerra gallica and in place names such as mare gallico; by extension it was applied to medieval France and the French, and it could mean “barbarous, rough”.^[7] Giovanni Villani wrote before 1348 that the Gauls were called Galli, ovvero Gallici, because they were fair-haired.^[8]

From the 16th century morbo gallico, the “French disease”, named syphilis, in Cellini among others.^[2] In poetry the adjective kept the sense “French”, as in Parini's gallic grazie.^[9] As a noun it names Gaulish, the Celtic language of the Gauls.^[10][5]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – The Storie de Troia e de Roma uses gallico for Roman Gaul.^[7]
• 14th century – A translation of Livy uses gallico; the Anonimo romano uses it for “French”.^[8]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani writes of the Gallici.^[8]
• 16th century – Morbo gallico names syphilis.^[2]
• Before 1764 – The derivative gallicismo is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (history) Of Gaul or the Gauls: le tribù galliche.^[3][10][9]
2. (literary) French.^[3][10][11]

Noun

1. (linguistics) Gaulish, the Celtic language of the ancient Gauls.^{[10][11][5][1]}

Word family

• gallicano
• gallicanesimo
• gallicismo
• gallicizzare
• antigallico
• gallicume

Related words

• gallo
• Gallia
• Latin Gallicus
• Spanish galgo

Usage notes

A separate gallico of chemistry, formed from galla “gall-nut” with -ico, occurs only in acido gallico (gallic acid), first recorded in 1828.^[3][8][10] Another chemical gallico, from gallio “gallium”, describes compounds of trivalent gallium and dates from 1956.^[3][12] The TLIO also records an Old Italian gallico formed from gallo “cock”, used by Sacchetti in 1378–81 for the early-morning hours of cockcrow.^[7]

Set phrases include morbo gallico (syphilis) and rosa gallica.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1753
3. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 556