goccia

Forms

goccia f (plural gocce)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian goza and Old Italian goça.^[2] Old and dialect variants include Old Italian goggia and Old Italian gozzia.^[3]

Etymology

In DELI's view it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *guttia (“drop”), formed from Latin gutta (“drop”), with the verb *guttiāre.^[4][5][2] Both came into Tuscan from the north, where they were Old Italian gozza and Old Italian gozzare, and were then given a Tuscan form.^[4][5][6]

Most other dictionaries make the noun a back-formation from the verb gocciare.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12]} Nocentini traces that verb to the same Vulgar Latin verb, beside classical guttāre.^[13] Wiktionary leaves both possibilities open.^[1]

The Latin noun itself survives in gotta “gout” and in dialect forms of the north and south.^[7][6] It is also French goutte, Occitan gota, Catalan gota, Spanish gota, Portuguese gota and Romanian gută, which in most of them also means “gout”.^[6][14] It has no accepted etymology.^[15][16] Wiktionary mentions a possible link with Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰewd- (“to pour”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo in 1282, with the sense of a small round quantity of liquid that forms by condensing or by falling away from a mass.^[2] DELI's first record is the 14th-century translation of the Bible, which speaks of God taking up le gocce della piova (“the drops of the rain”).^[4][17]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for drops of sweat and tears, for raindrops, for a tiny amount of liquid, for a small spot, and for the resin that drips from some plants.^[2] The sense “a little of a liquid” is recorded in 1483, and the Doric ornament, a translation of Latin guttae, in 1561.^[4] A precious stone cut in the shape of a drop is recorded in 1869.^[4]

In pharmacy the drop became a measure, about five centigrams, and gocce the name of medicines dosed by it.^[18][8] The sense “apoplexy”, mostly in the diminutive gocciola, rests on the old belief that the disease was a drop falling from the head.^[4][7] The proverb la goccia scava la pietra translates Latin gutta cavat lapidem, and come due gocce d'acqua is a calque of French comme deux gouttes d'eau.^[19][9]

Timeline

• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses goccia.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses the verb gocciare and gocciolo.^[4]
• 14th century – A translation of the Bible has goccia “drop”.^[4]
• 1483 – Sabadino degli Arienti uses it for a small quantity of liquid.^[4]
• 1553 – Goccio is recorded.^[4]
• 1561 – Anguillara uses it for the Doric ornament.^[4]
• 1869 – Tommaseo–Bellini records it for a gem cut in the shape of a drop.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. drop: a tiny round quantity of liquid that falls away from a mass or forms on a surface: una goccia di sudore.^[8][9][5]
2. (chiefly in the plural) A raindrop: sono cadute due gocce.^[8][9][20]
3. A small amount of a liquid, same as goccio: solo una goccia di latte.^[8][5][20]
4. (colloquial) A drip from the nose.^[8][9]
5. The sweet drop that oozes from ripe figs: fichi con la goccia.^[8][9][20]
6. (pharmacy) A drop as a unit of dosage;^[8][9][5] (in the plural) a medicine taken in drops.^[8][9][5]
7. (figurative) A tiny amount of something: non ha una goccia di pazienza.^[8][10]
8. A drop-shaped ornament, as on an earring or a chandelier.^[5][20][12]
9. (architecture) A gutta, one of the small cones under the triglyphs of the Doric order.^[5][20][10]

Word family

• goccio
• gocciola
• gocciolare
• gocciolio
• gocciolatoio
• gocciolamento
• gocciolo

Related words

• gocciare
• gotta
• Latin gutta
• French goutte

Usage notes

Common phrases include a goccia a goccia (drop by drop, little by little), una goccia nel mare (a drop in the ocean) and la goccia che fa traboccare il vaso (the last straw).^[8][20][10] Battisti and Alessio list goccia “apoplexy” (17th century) as a separate medical word.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 946
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1838
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
15. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
16. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
17. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
18. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
19. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
20. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli