manicare

Forms

manicare (first-person singular present manùco, first-person singular past historic manicài, past participle manicàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti conjugate it mànico, mànichi; the Treccani says the old language used it only in the forms stressed on the ending, and took the others from the variant manucare.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mandūcāre (“to chew; to eat”),^[1][5] probably through a spoken variant *mandĭcāre.^[6][2][3] The DEI, the TLIO and Zingarelli explain the vowel ⟨i⟩ by the influence of masticare, and the DEI and the TLIO think the word came from the south, where /nd/ became /nn/.^[7][8][9] Prati sees the ending ⟨-icare⟩ put in place of ⟨-ucare⟩, and compares Corsican mundicà (“to nibble”).^[10]

The Latin verb was formed from mandūcus (“glutton”), from mandō (“to chew”).^[1] The same Latin verb gave Sardinian mandigare and Romanian mânca,^[11] and through Old French mangier it gave mangiare, the ordinary verb for “to eat”.^[11][12] Its doublets are manducare and manucare.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Ritmo di sant'Alessio, from the Marche, in the second half of the 12th century, with the sense “to eat, take food”.^[8] The noun manicare “food” follows in a document from the Mugello of the mid-13th century.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian extended the verb to “consume something until it is gone”, “squander one's goods”, “gnaw at the soul” and “oppress, harass”.^[8] Dante has Ugolino's sons think that he bites his hands per voglia / di manicar “from a wish to eat”, and Boccaccio writes that after a long fast anyone finds il manicare good, and drink after toil.^[9][13][6] DELI quotes Lanci's view that in Dante mangiare is the plain word while manducare and manicare are used for effect, and Terracini's that mangiare did not replace manicare all at once.^[12]

The diminutive manicaretto, a tasty dish, goes back to the 14th century.^[7][14] The verb itself became archaic and literary, used in jest by Francesco De Sanctis,^[4] though Prati and the DEI found it still alive in the countryside around Florence.^[10][7]

Timeline

• Second half of the 12th century – The Ritmo di sant'Alessio uses the verb.^[8]
• Mid-13th century – The noun manicare “food” is recorded in the Mugello.^[8]
• 1268 – Zingarelli's date for the word.^[9]
• 1310 – Manicatore “eater” is recorded.^[7]
• 14th century – Manicaretto and manicamento are recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (archaic, literary or humorous) To eat.^[6][2][3][1]
2. (obsolete, figurative) To consume, destroy; to squander.^[9][3][8]

Noun

1. (literary) Eating; food, a meal.^[6][4][1]

Word family

• manicaretto
• manicatore
• manicamento

Related words

• mangiare
• manducare
• manucare
• masticare
• Latin manduco

Usage notes

Boccaccio uses the proverb egli avrebbe buon manicare co' ciechi, said of someone whose tricks would work only on fools.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
6. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2348
8. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 627
11. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti