marcio

Forms

marcio (feminine marcia, masculine plural marci, feminine plural marce)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin marcidus (“withered, rotten”), from marceō (“to wither, droop”), with the loss of the intervocalic /d/ typical of the northern dialects.^[2][3][4][5] The phrase Medieval Latin piscem marcidum (“rotten fish”) is recorded in Venice in 1227, and DEI compares Venetian spavio from Vulgar Latin *expavidus and Venetian lispio from Latin hispidus.^[2][6] Treccani and Wiktionary derive it directly from the Latin verb, perhaps as a deverbal of marcire.^[7][1] The learned doublet is marcido.^[8][4]

Meyer-Lübke lists among the derivatives of the Latin verb Dalmatian muars and Old Occitan marsit.^[9]

De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Italic *markē- and Proto-Indo-European *mrk-eh₁- (“to be soaked, be weak”), with cognates in Hittite and Sanskrit words for harming and destroying.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the Laude cortonesi (about 1260), of a body decaying in the earth: remane 'n terra el corpo marcio (“the rotten body stays in the ground”).^[2][11] The figurative sense “morally corrupt” is also of the 13th century (Malispini), and “suppurating” of the end of the century (Fiore di virtù).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Dante speaks of the acqua marcia (“rotten water”) that swells the belly of the dropsical Master Adam.^[7][11] The sense “soaked, rotted by damp” is recorded before 1557 in Ramusio, and the noun, the rotten part of something or moral corruption, appears with Carrer before 1850 and in Tommaseo–Bellini in 1869.^[2]

In card and dice games dare marcio or far marcio (before 1580) meant to win or lose a game without any points for the loser; from this German took Matsch in the 16th century, a total defeat at cards, later also “mud, slush”, and the adjective matsch “gone bad; exhausted”.^[12] Today the adjective also intensifies negative words: ubriaco marcio “dead drunk”, avere torto marcio “to be utterly wrong”;^[8][13][14] una mela marcia “a rotten apple” is a bad element in a group.^[8][13][14]

Timeline

• 1227 – Medieval Latin piscem marcidum at Venice.^[2]
• About 1260 – Marcio “decaying” in the Laude cortonesi.^[2]
• 13th century – The figurative sense “morally corrupt”, in Malispini.^[2]
• Late 13th century – “Suppurating”, in the Fiore di virtù.^[2]
• Before 1557 – “Soaked, rotted by damp”, in Ramusio.^[2]
• Before 1580 – Dare marcio in card and dice games.^[12]
• 16th century – German Matsch (Martsch) at cards.^[12]
• Before 1850 – The noun for moral corruption, in Carrer.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. rotten, decaying, gone bad: frutta marcia “rotten fruit”.^[8][13][4]
2. (of part of the body) Festering, suppurating, diseased: denti marci “decayed teeth”.^[8][13][4]
3. Soaked and decayed by damp: legno marcio “rotten wood”.^[8][4][14]
4. (figurative) Morally corrupt, depraved.^[8][13][4]
5. (intensifier) Utter, complete, with words of negative sense: ubriaco marcio “dead drunk”, torto marcio.^[8][13][14]

Noun

1. The rotten part of something: buttare via il marcio della pera “to throw away the rotten part of the pear”.^[8][14][4]
2. The smell or taste of something gone bad: sapere di marcio “to taste rotten”.^[8][13]
3. (popular) pus.^[8][15]
4. (figurative) Moral corruption; something underhand: il marcio della politica “the rot in politics”.^[8][14][15]

Word family

• marcire
• marciume
• marcita
• marcioso
• marciolino

Related words

• marcido
• Latin marcidus
• German Matsch

Usage notes

Marcio is also the first person singular present of marciare “to march”, a verb borrowed from French.^[1][8] GDLI also records a learned adjective marcio “Marcian”, from the Roman family name Marcius, as in acqua marcia.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 272
6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2362
7. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 780
12. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
13. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana