natica

Forms

natica f (plural natiche)^[1] Old Italian forms include natiche, nateche, natike and the northern nadege.^[2] An old plural is natice.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *natica, from Latin natis (“buttock”), usually plural nates.^[4][1][5][6] DELI starts from a plural *naticae.^[7] The form natica is recorded in glosses and in the Latin translation of Soranus, and GDLI and Zingarelli call the Italian word learned.^{[8][3][9][10]} The same word is French nache, Occitan natja and Spanish nalga.^[4][11]

De Vaan finds a link between natis and Ancient Greek νῶτον (nôton, “back”) possible in meaning but uncertain in form, and leaves the etymology open.^[12][4] Treccani calls the origin unclear.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Canzone del fi' Aldobrandino, of the early 13th century, which describes a woman in a short ragged gown curta da chi a le natiche (“short down to the buttocks”).^[7][3] The TLIO's first dated record is Restoro d'Arezzo (1282), for either of the two fleshy masses of the human or animal seat.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Dante, in Inferno 20, sees the damned with their heads twisted so far that il pianto de li occhi / le natiche bagnava per lo fesso, “the tears from the eyes bathed the buttocks along the cleft”.^[3][10] Boccaccio has the adjective naticuto, and Frugoni naticale in the 18th century.^[8]

The word also names the corresponding part of horses and apes, the upper rear thigh in the study of livestock, and at Naples a cut of beef.^[10][5] The mollusc genus Natica, named in scientific Latin for the shape of its shell, is in Zingarelli from 1981.^[3][10][9]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – The Canzone del fi' Aldobrandino uses natiche.^[7][3]
• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses the word.^[2]
• Early 14th century – Dante uses it in the Inferno.^[3]
• 1981 – Zingarelli records natica for the mollusc.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) Buttock: either of the two fleshy masses at the bottom of the back, over the gluteal muscles; in the plural, the bottom.^{[5][6][13][1]}
2. The corresponding part of some animals, the top of the back of the thigh in cattle and horses.^[5][10]
3. (butchery) A cut of beef, known elsewhere as fesa or scannello.^[5][10]
4. (zoology) A sea snail of the genus Natica, with a strong, round, brightly coloured shell; with a capital, the genus itself.^[5][6][13]

Word family

• naticuto
• naticide

Related words

• Latin natis

Usage notes

Chiappa is the popular synonym and gluteo the anatomical one.^[13][8] Battere le natiche means to fall on one's backside.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2552
9. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse