laccio

Forms

laccio m (plural lacci)^[1] Older forms include Old Italian lazo, lasso, lacio and lazzo, with an old plural le laccia.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *laceus (“noose”), the spoken form of laqueus (“noose, snare”).^[4][5][1][6] The Latin ⟨-qu-⟩ became ⟨-c-⟩ before the ending, and the group ⟨-cj-⟩ was then lengthened to ⟨-ccj-⟩, as usual in Italian.^[7] The diminutive lacciolo continues *laqueolus.^[4][8]

The word is pan-Romance: French lacs, Occitan latz, Spanish lazo, Portuguese laço, Sardinian lattu and Romanian laț.^[5][9] It was borrowed as Basque lakio and Albanian lak, and German Latz comes from laz.^[10][11] Lasso and lazo are doublets.^[1]

The Latin word was a hunting term, also used figuratively in Latin, and its origin is obscure.^[4] DEI suggests it was borrowed from a substrate.^[10] Nocentini and Devoto link it with laciō (“to entice”), the verb behind dēliciae (“delight”), but de Vaan rejects this connection because the sounds do not fit and a “noose” does not come from “to tear”, and he knows no other etymology.^[5][7][12] Wiktionary sets up Proto-Italic *lakʷ- (“to ensnare”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁k- (“string, twig”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Cremonese Libro of Uguccione da Lodi, at the beginning of the 13th century.^[2] DELI cites lazo in an anonymous 13th-century canzone, lasso in Leonardo del Guallacca and laccio in the Fiore, for a cord with a running knot that tightens when pulled.^[4] Leonardo's lines compare lovers to a fish caught in the noose: Come lo pesce al lasso, / ch'è preso a falsa parte.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The hangman's noose is recorded in Bono Giamboni before 1292, and the figurative “bond, tie” in Pietro Martelli before 1301.^[4] Boccaccio, in the Decameron (1348–53), uses the word for a trap or deception, and lacciolo, a noose for small birds, is recorded in Giordano da Pisa in 1304.^[4] Old Italian also used laccio for a cord in general, a strap fastening the helmet, a belt, a part of the harness for breaking horses, and the thread of a spider's web.^[2]

The sense “lace, tie” appears as lazo in the vernacular Guido delle Colonne (1350–75); i lacci delle scarpe, shoelaces, is recorded in Secondo Lancellotti in 1623, and laccio emostatico, a tourniquet, in the title of a book by U. Nobili in 1920.^[4] The Tuscan proverb ogni fallo aspetta il suo laccio means that every fault waits for its punishment.^[13] In modern usage lacci e lacciuoli are the snares of bureaucracy.^[14][15]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses the word in Cremona.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for the hangman's noose.^[4]
• Before 1301 – Pietro Martelli uses it for a bond or tie.^[4]
• 1304 – Lacciolo appears in Giordano da Pisa.^[4]
• 1348–53 – Boccaccio uses it for a trap or deception.^[4]
• 1623 – Lacci delle scarpe “shoelaces” is recorded.^[4]
• 1920 – Laccio emostatico “tourniquet” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A noose or snare: a rope with a running knot for catching birds, game or animals at grazing: catturare un puledro col laccio.^[6][14][16]
2. (figurative) A trap, a snare: tendere un laccio, cadere nel laccio.^[6][16][15]
3. (uncommon) A hangman's noose; death by hanging.^[6][14][16]
4. A lace or tie for fastening clothes;^[6][14][16] i lacci delle scarpe, shoelaces: Allacciati i lacci delle scarpe prima di correre.^[6][14][16]
5. A thin band or cord;^[6][14][17] laccio emostatico, a tourniquet.^[6][14][17]
6. (figurative) A bond or tie; a hindrance: i lacci dell'amore.^[6][14][15]
7. (heraldry) laccio d'amore, a cord set in a circle and knotted.^[14][15]

Word family

• lacciolo
• allacciare
• slacciare
• allacciamento
• allacciatura
• lacciare
• intralciare

Related words

• lasso
• lazo
• Latin laqueus
• French lacs

Usage notes

Avere il laccio al collo is to be forced to do something, and mettere il laccio al collo a qualcuno to force someone.^[6][14][17] For the lasso of the gauchos and cowboys Treccani notes the Spanish form lazo and the English adaptation lasso, and takes this sense of laccio as an adaptation of the Spanish word.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2147
11. ^ Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)