gocciare

Forms

gocciare (first-person singular present góccio, first-person singular past historic gocciài, past participle gocciàto, auxiliary (of an object carrying liquid) avére or (of liquid) èssere)^[1] Forms in the TLIO include Old Italian goza and Old Italian gloçava.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *guttiāre, formed from Latin gutta (“drop”) beside the classical verb guttāre.^[3][4][5][6] DELI, DEI and Devoto hold that the verb, like the noun goccia, came into Tuscan from the north: northern gozzare was later given a Tuscan shape, an overcorrection.^[3][7][8][9] The same Vulgar Latin verb lies behind Logudorese buttiare.^[7] Wiktionary gives the other possibility: the verb is from Italian goccia + -are.^[1]

Meyer-Lübke traces the noun itself to the verb, and gives Old Italian ghiocciare (“to drip”), a form influenced by another Latin verb.^[10]

De Vaan finds no etymology for the Latin noun.^[11] Wiktionary compares Old Armenian կաթն (katʻn, “milk”) and mentions a possible link with Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰewd- (“to pour”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Tuscan Questioni filosofiche, from after 1298, where a liquid runs or falls in drops.^[2] Dante uses it in the Inferno (1300–1313) of tears: D'una fessura che lagrime goccia (“from a crack that drips tears”).^[3][12][13]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already had both uses: a liquid that falls in drops, and a thing that lets a liquid fall drop by drop.^[2] Tommaseo notes that a book on horse medicine uses it for sprinkling a liquid in drops, as in gocciavi sopra a poco a poco latte di cavalla (“drip mare's milk on it little by little”).^[12]

Poets kept the verb for tears, sweat, blood and rain: Foscolo writes le lagrime mi gocciavano giù per le guance (“tears dripped down my cheeks”), and Pascoli has garlands donde gocciano lagrime di pioggia (“from which tears of rain drip”).^[14] Today it is an uncommon synonym of gocciolare.^[5][15][13]

Timeline

• After 1298 – First record, in the Questioni filosofiche.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses gocciare in the Divine Comedy.^[3]
• 1700s – The noun gocciamento is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, uncommon) To drip, to fall or come out in drops (with essere of the liquid, avere of the container): Il rubinetto della cucina goccia da ieri sera.^{[5][15][16][1]}
2. (transitive, uncommon) To let a liquid fall drop by drop, to trickle.^[16][9][2]

Word family

• sgocciare
• gocciamento

Related words

• goccia
• gocciolare
• gotta
• Latin gutta

Usage notes

The auxiliary depends on the subject: avere when it is the object that drips, essere when it is the liquid.^[15][6][1] Gocciolare is the usual verb.^[13]

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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1838
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 206
9. ^ a b 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 948
15. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana