mica

mica¹ crumb; not at all

Etymology tree of mica¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin mica

Italian mica

English mica

Pronunciation

• /ˈmi.ka/^[1]

Forms

mica f (plural miche)^[1] Old and northern variants are Old Italian miga, used by Boccaccio, and Old Italian micca.^[2][3][4] Sabatini–Coletti explain the double consonant of the latter as a hypercorrection.^[5]

Etymology

The crumb and the adverb are inherited from Latin mīca (“crumb, grain”).^[6][7][3][1] DELI calls the noun a learned word.^[8] The adverb grew out of negative phrases in which the noun meant “not a crumb”, and Petronius already writes of someone who for five days took not a crumb of bread.^[8][6][2] The same use made the variant Lombard minga the ordinary negative there.^[6][9]

The noun is French mie and Spanish miga, and as a reinforcement of the negative the word is also Old French mie and Old Occitan miga.^[6][9][10] It passed into Basque mika and into Berber.^[9][2]

The Latin word, recorded from Cato, is traditionally connected with minor (“smaller”) and Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”), from Proto-Indo-European *smeyg- (“small, thin”).^[6][1][11] De Vaan, following Nyman, prefers Proto-Italic *meikā from Proto-Indo-European *meik-h₂- (“blinking”), the root of micō (“to flash, quiver”), since the word first meant a grain of salt and then any glittering particle.^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adverb is the older record: it appears in the 12th-century Ritmo di Sant'Alessio with the sense “not at all”.^[8][5] The noun, a crumb or small grain, is found in the Urbino Laudi of about 1300 and in Jacopone da Todi before 1306.^[8][7]

Semantic evolution

In the old and literary language the noun meant a crumb of bread or any tiny piece: Boccaccio, speaking to the Muses, says he has gathered “some crumbs fallen from your table” (alcune miche da quella cadute).^[13][14] Tommaseo describes the adverb as a word that strengthens the negative, like French mie, point and pas, with examples from Boccaccio and Petrarch.^[13]

In modern colloquial Italian mica follows the verb to strengthen non, can stand alone as the negative before the verb, and means “by any chance” in questions.^[7][3][5] Mica male “not bad at all”, a litotes for a favourable judgement, was described by Panzini as a Milanese expression of familiar speech.^[8][4] In Piedmont, Lombardy, Liguria and Emilia mica means a loaf, with the diminutive michetta, from a spoken Latin form with a double consonant rather than from French miche.^[15][3] The scientific diminutive micella was introduced in the 19th century, according to some dictionaries by the Swiss botanist Nägeli, and Italian micella “micelle” is recorded in 1917.^[8]

Timeline

• 12th century – The adverb appears in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio.^[8]
• c. 1300 – The noun appears in the Urbino Laudi.^[8]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses the noun.^[8][7]
• 18th century – Michetta is recorded.^[6]
• 1917 – Micella is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic, literary) A crumb of bread.^{[7][3][14][1]}
2. (literary) A tiny piece of anything, a grain.^[7][3][14]
3. (Northern Italy) A small round bread roll.^[3]

Adverb

1. (colloquial) At all, in the least, strengthening a negative, usually after the verb: Non sono mica stanco.^{[7][3][14][1]}
2. (colloquial) Not, standing alone before the verb or another word: Mica gliel'ho detto io!^[7][5][4][1]
3. (colloquial) By any chance, in questions and doubtful statements: Hai mica visto il mio telefono?^[7][3][5][1]
4. In mica tanto, not much, not very.^[7][3]

Word family

• michetta
• micella
• miccino
• micolino

mica² mica (mineral)

Etymology tree of mica²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin mica

Italian mica

English mica

Pronunciation

• /ˈmi.ka/^[1]

Forms

mica f (plural miche)^[1]

Etymology

The mineral is a learned word, borrowed from Latin mīca (“crumb, grain”), taken into mineralogy in the 16th century.^[8][6][7][1] Latin already used the noun for a flake of gold, in Lucretius and Vitruvius, and it was associated with micō (“to flash, glitter”), since the cleavage flakes of the mineral shine like mother-of-pearl.^[2][7][4][5] The translation German Glimmer, used by Agricola, shows how 16th-century scholars understood it.^[2] The same word is French mica, Spanish mica and Portuguese mica.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Michelangelo Florio, in 1563, describes a stone with white glinting sparks and says that the Latins call it mica or moglichetta and the German miners “cat silver”.^[8][13]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo describes it as a stone found in flexible, elastic flakes as shiny as glass, popularly called argento di gatto “cat silver”.^[13] The compound micascisto “mica schist” is recorded in 1817 as micaschisto and in 1875 in its modern form, and the adjective micaceo dates from the 19th century.^[8][6][2]

Timeline

• 1563 – Michelangelo Florio names the mineral mica.^[8]
• 1817 – Micaschisto is recorded.^[8]
• 1875 – Micascisto is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mineralogy) mica, any of a group of sheet silicates of aluminium and alkali metals that split into thin shining flakes and are used as electrical insulators.^[7][3][5][1]

Word family

• micascisto
• micaceo