moccio

Forms

moccio m (plural mocci)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *mucceus, a derivative of Latin muccus, a variant of mūcus (“mucus, snot”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} GRADIT gives this origin with a “perhaps”.^[6] Battisti and Alessio, Meyer-Lübke and Zingarelli explain the word differently: Italian made a new singular from the plural of mocco, the older word continuing muccus.^[7][8][9]

The other Romance languages continue the simple muccus: Occitan moc, Catalan moc, Spanish moco, Portuguese monco, Sardinian muccu and Romanian muc.^[3][8] Meyer-Lübke traces to *mucceus the Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian words for the snout, and Italian moccicaglia “slimy matter”.^[8]

Latin mūcus goes back to a Proto-Italic *moukos, from Proto-Indo-European *mew-k- (“slimy, slippery”).^[1] De Vaan connects it with ēmungō (“to wipe one's nose”) and Ancient Greek μύξα (múxa, “slime, mucus”), from a root meaning “to brush off”, but he notes that it may instead belong with words for “moist” such as Old Norse mjúkr.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Agnolo Torini's Brieve collezzione, written in Florence in 1363–1374, which has the plural mocci in the sense “mucus running from the nose”.^[11] DELI dates the word from Saint Antoninus of Florence, before 1459,^[2] who asks the reader to consider the nose of the crucified Christ pieno di mocci e di lacrime e di sangue (full of snot and tears and blood).^[12]

Semantic evolution

The word was a homely one from the start: Lorenzo de' Medici mocks a slattern col suo naso pien di mocci (with her nose full of snot), and Poliziano describes the snot, sweat and blood that run down inside a jousting helmet.^[12] The idiom affogare nei mocci, “to drown in one's snot”, was said of a feckless man who gets lost in every small task.^[13]

In veterinary use moccio named glanders, the contagious disease of horses with a discharge from the nostril, now usually called morva.^[13][6][14] By extension it is also the slime of snails.^[6][5][9]

Moccichino, the handkerchief, is in Boccaccio in 1348–1353; in 1574 Stefano Guazzo wrote that the Tuscans called the cloth for wiping the nose moccichino or fazzoletto, and by 1863 the word was felt to be unrefined.^[2] Moccioso “snotty” (before 1566, Annibal Caro) became a noun for a small child with a running nose (1612) and, in 1869, a scornful word for a pretentious youngster.^[2]

Timeline

• 1363–1374 – Agnolo Torini's Brieve collezzione has the plural mocci.^[11]
• Before 1459 – Saint Antoninus of Florence uses mocci.^[2][12]
• 1574 – Stefano Guazzo notes that the Tuscans call the handkerchief moccichino.^[2]
• 1612 – Moccioso is used as a noun for a small child.^[2]
• 1691 – The third Crusca dictionary records moccicare “to have a running nose”.^[2]
• 1869 – Tommaseo records moccioso as a scornful word for a presumptuous boy.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. snot, nasal mucus, especially when it builds up in the nostrils or runs from them with a cold: Dopo la corsa al freddo aveva il moccio sul labbro.^{[6][14][5][1]}
2. (by extension) The slime of snails.^[6][5][9]
3. (veterinary) glanders, a contagious disease of horses; the same as morva.^[6][14][5]

Word family

• moccicare
• moccico
• moccioso
• moccichino
• moccione
• smoccicare

Related words

• muco
• mocco
• moccolo
• Latin mucus

Usage notes

Moccio is informal and somewhat coarse.^[1] Tuscany also has moccico in the same sense, recorded in 1863 as a word of Arezzo and Pistoia.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ 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)
6. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2483
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
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