luccio

Forms

luccio m (plural lucci)^[1] Old forms include luzzo and the Latin spelling lucius.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lūcius (“pike”), a word found only in late writers such as Anthimus, Ausonius and Polemius Silvius.^[4][5][1][6] The same word is Old French lus, Old Occitan lus and Catalan llus, while Spanish lucio was taken again from Latin.^[5][7]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[8][9][10] DELI and Nocentini favour Niedermann's view that it is the common first name Lūcius given to the fish, as Romans gave frequent names to common animals: gavia (“gull”) from Gavius, gaius (“jay”) from Gaius.^[4][5] Nocentini notes that names of the pike elsewhere usually mean “point”, after its pointed snout (French brochet, English pike, German Hecht), which leaves the Latin word isolated.^[5] A more direct derivation from lūx (“light”), after the silvery belly and flanks, is not ruled out,^[4] and Wiktionary's Latin entry gives that origin.^[1]

The doubled ⟨cci⟩ reflects the doubling of the consonant after the stress before /j/, as in liccio and riccio.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Florentine Fiore of the late 13th century, with the sense “pike”, the freshwater fish Esox lucius.^[2] DELI gives the Novellino, also of the late 13th century, and Zingarelli the year 1287.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian texts name the pike among the scaled fish fit to eat and describe its voracity: Sacchetti tells of a friend who stuffed a small fish halfway into a pike's throat.^[12] Pulci lists anguille e lucci e tinche e pesci persi (eels and pikes and tenches and perch).^[12] Redi observed that the pike does not spare even other pikes.^[13]

Linnaeus kept the Latin word in the scientific name Esox lucius, and GDLI treats the modern zoological word as shaped by this scientific Latin.^[12][13] Luccio di mare or luccio imperiale names the sfirena, a barracuda of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.^[10][14][15] The compound lucioperca, for the zander, joins Latin lūcius and perca and is recorded from 1957.^[5]

Timeline

• 1287 – First date Zingarelli gives for luccio.^[10]
• Late 13th century – The Fiore and the Novellino use the word for the pike.^[2][4]
• 1957 – Lucioperca “zander” is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) pike: a large, very voracious freshwater fish, Esox lucius, of the lakes and rivers of Europe, Asia and North America, with a flattened snout and sharp teeth, prized for its flesh; also any fish of the genus Esox.^{[8][14][9][15]}
2. luccio di mare, luccio imperiale: the sfirena, a barracuda (Sphyraena sphyraena).^[14][10][15]

Word family

• lucioperca

Related words

• Latin lucius
• Spanish lucio

Usage notes

A separate luccio is a technical word, recorded from 1957: a metal tool shaped like an open rectangular box on a wooden handle, used to cut peat from submerged beds.^[8][12][15] It comes from French louche (“ladle”), the Picard form of a word of Frankish origin.^[8][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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
4. ^ a b c d e 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 238
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)