gozzo

gozzo¹ crop; goitre; throat

Pronunciation

• /ˈɡot.t͡so/^[1]

Forms

gozzo m (plural gozzi)^[1] The TLIO's Old Italian forms include goçço, guçço, gosso and gozza.^[2]

Etymology

The origin of the word for the crop and goitre is much discussed.^[3][4][2] DELI and Prati consider it clipped: it is from Italian gorgozza (“throat”) (also gorgozzo), from Vulgar Latin *gurgutia (“throat”), a derivative of Latin gurges.^{[3][5][4][6][7]} Others see a clipping of gargozzo, from an imitative root garg-.^[8][9][1] Prati objects that this would give the word an open /ɔ/.^[5]

Nocentini derives it instead from *guttium, a variant of Latin guttur (“throat”) confused with guttus (“flask”).^[10][2][1] A third view connects it with Late Latin geusiae (“throat”), a Gaulish word recorded by Marcellus Empiricus around 400, which gave gogio at Lucca, Venetian gosso, Lombard gos, French gosier and Romanian gușă.^[7][1][5] DELI accepts that word as the source of these other forms but not of the Italian one, which it thinks probably onomatopoeic.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Pisan translation of Albertano da Brescia's treatises (1287–1288), where gozzo is the part of the body between the mouth and the neck, the throat.^[2] DELI dates the medical sense “goitre” before 1300, in Rustico di Filippo.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses gozzo for the throat: Cerberus still bears a pelato (fleeced) chin and gozzo.^[3][8] The sense “crop of a bird”, now the first in the dictionaries, is recorded before 1348 in Francesco da Barberino.^[3] In 1525 Bembo explained gozzo as the throat, from which come sgozzare “to cut the throat” and ingozzare.^[3] Boccaccio has gozzuto “goitred” before 1375.^[3]

In popular speech gozzo is also the stomach: riempirsi il gozzo is to eat greedily, and something that sta sul gozzo is an offence one cannot swallow or a person one cannot stand.^[4][6][8] In medicine gozzo endemico is the goitre of certain mountain regions.^[11][12]

Timeline

• 1287–1288 – gozzo “throat” in the Pisan translation of Albertano.^[2]
• Before 1300 – Rustico di Filippo uses it for a goitre.^[3]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses gozzo for the throat.^[3]
• Before 1348 – Francesco da Barberino uses it for a bird's crop.^[3]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio has gozzuto.^[3]
• 1525 – Bembo explains gozzo, sgozzare and ingozzare.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) The crop of a bird, the widened part of the oesophagus where food is stored: ingluvie.^[4][6][9]
2. (popular) The stomach; the throat: avere il gozzo pieno.^[4][11][8]
3. (medicine) goitre: enlargement of the thyroid gland; the swelling of the neck it causes.^[4][6][8]

Word family

• gozzuto
• ingozzare
• sgozzare
• gozzovigliare
• gozzaia

gozzo² small fishing boat

Pronunciation

• /ˈɡot.t͡so/^[1]

Forms

gozzo m (plural gozzi)^[1]

Etymology

The origin of the word for the small boat is obscure.^[3][4][8] In 1903 Giovanni Flechia derived it from Venetian bragozzo, a fishing boat.^[3][6] Battisti and Alessio accept this with caution, and DELI finds it weak.^[3][13] Nocentini derives it, like the word for the crop, from Vulgar Latin *guttium, here a variant of Latin guttus (“flask”), with the meaning moving from a container to a boat, as with gondola.^[10] Dialect forms are Corsican guzzo, Sicilian guzzo, Neapolitan guzzo and Genoese gosso, and the word is also used in Calabria and eastern Veneto.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is G. Biffi in 1774, for a small rowing boat with a small sail, used for fishing or carrying goods.^[3][4] D'Alberti's dictionary registered it in 1798.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The gozzo is a traditional small boat with pointed ends, whose shape varies with the waters it is built for.^[11][6] Zingarelli connects it especially with Liguria and notes that it may be rowed or motorised, sometimes with a lateen sail.^[11][6] Battisti and Alessio record the derivative gozzante, a boatman or sand-digger, in the 19th century.^[13] Sabatini–Coletti describes a modern small motor fishing boat with a central cabin, and also a large fishing net called gozzo.^[9]

Timeline

• 1774 – G. Biffi records gozzo, the small fishing boat.^[3][4]
• 1798 – D'Alberti's dictionary registers the word.^[3]
• 1903 – Giovanni Flechia proposes a derivation from bragozzo.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical) A small rowing boat with pointed ends, sometimes with a small sail or a motor, used for inshore fishing.^[4][6][8]
2. (nautical) A small motor fishing boat with a central cabin.^[9]
3. A large fishing net.^[9]