miccino

Forms

miccino m (plural miccini)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian mica (“crumb”), with a diminutive suffix that the sources explain in different ways.^[2][3][4] Sabatini–Coletti, Zingarelli and Treccani start from its old variant: from Italian micca + -ino.^[5][6][7] Nocentini starts from a Vulgar Latin *micīna or *micīnus, diminutives of Latin mīca (“crumb”), and Battisti–Alessio and Meyer-Lübke from a Late Latin micīna (“a little piece”).^[3][8][9] GRADIT, Gabrielli and Devoto see a crossing with piccino “little”.^[10][4][11] Wiktionary also mentions a Vulgar Latin *miccus, comparing Sicilian miccu, Corsican micca and Romanian mic.^[1] Battisti–Alessio cite Old Italian micina “small” from 13th-century Rome.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the 15th-century poems of Burchiello, with the sense “a little bit”: deh, dammene un miccino “come, give me a little”.^[8][12] Battisti–Alessio date the phrase a miccino to the 14th century, in Bencivenni.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Already in the older language un miccino could work as an adverb, “a little, somewhat”, as in the Morgante and in Lorenzo de' Medici.^[12] The phrase a miccino meant “in small quantities, sparingly”, and fare a miccino “to save, not to be lavish”.^[12] In Umbria the word gave miscéa, miscèna and mescìa “trifle”.^[8]

Today the word is Tuscan and uncommon, used mostly in fare a miccino, “to be very thrifty”.^[2][5][7]

Timeline

• 14th century – A miccino is recorded in Bencivenni.^[8]
• 15th century – Burchiello uses miccino “a little bit”.^[8][3][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Tuscan) A crumb, a very small amount of something: Aggiungi un miccino di pepe.^{[10][2][7][1]}
2. a miccino – in tiny amounts, very sparingly: Ci passa il vino a miccino.^[6][7][4]
3. fare a miccino – to be very thrifty with something, to use it sparingly: In quella casa si fa a miccino del riscaldamento.^[2][5][4]

Related words

• mica
• piccino
• briciola

Usage notes

Sabatini–Coletti records the old form miccichino.^[5] Wiktionary gives the variant micino.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d 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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2450
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 281
12. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET