nocchiero

Forms

nocchiero m (plural nocchieri)^[1] The usual modern form is nocchiere, with the ending of the nouns in -iere.^[2][3] Old Italian had many local forms, among them Old Italian nochiero, Old Italian nauclero, Old Italian nacleri and the Genoese form noiher.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nauclērus (“shipowner, ship's captain”), which is from Ancient Greek ναύκληρος (naúklēros).^[5][6][1][7] Documents have the Medieval Latin forms nauclerius (1255) and nauclierius (1264), and the GDLI derives the Italian word from that later form.^[8][9][10]

The Greek word is a compound of ναῦς (naûs, “ship”) and a second part that DELI takes from a root meaning “point”, so that the word first meant the man who stands at the ship's point.^[5][2] Nocentini instead connects the second part with κάρα (kára, “head”), so “the head of a ship”, and glosses the Greek word as shipowner, captain or helmsman.^[6]

Meyer-Lübke held that Italy was the word's real home: the Italian word was borrowed into French nocher, Old Occitan naucher, Catalan nauxer and Old Spanish, while Old Provençal also had naucler.^[11] Nocentini traces the French word to the Genoese form nocer.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the poems of Giacomo da Lentini, of about 1230–1250, in the sense of the man who steers a ship, sets its course and directs the voyage.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

By the end of the 13th century the word is found across Tuscany, the north and central Italy, with figurative uses for a guide or ruler and a sense “ferryman”, the man who takes a boat across a short stretch of water; it could also name any member of a ship's crew.^[4] Dante calls Charon “the helmsman of the livid marsh” (al nocchier della livida palude) and Italy “a ship without a helmsman in a great storm” (nave senza nocchiero in gran tempesta).^[12][3]

In the navy the word came to name a rank in charge of the seamanship on board: a text of 1645–46 sets the nocchiere over the sailors as the infantry captain is over the soldiers.^[5] In the modern navy it is the rating for the deck services (helm, anchors), the equivalent of the boatswain of a merchant ship.^[13][14] French had the loan as nochier from 1246 and German as Nochier from 1468.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1230–1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses nocchier.^[4][5]
• 1246 – French nochier is first recorded.^[15]
• 1255 – Medieval Latin nauclerius is recorded.^[8]
• Before 1306 – Nucchiero appears in Iacopone's Laudi.^[5]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the form nocchiero.^[5]
• 1340 – The form nocchiere appears in Pegolotti.^[5]
• 1468 – German Nochier is first recorded.^[15]
• 1645–1646 – The word names the officer over a warship's sailors.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) The helmsman or pilot of a ship, the person who steers and commands it.^[3][14][13]
2. (literary) A ferryman, especially Charon in Dante.^[3][14]
3. (figurative, literary) A leader or guide, one who governs a state.^[3][14][2]
4. (nautical) In the Italian navy, a rating in charge of the deck services, the equivalent of a boatswain.^{[3][14][2][1]}

Related words

• nauclero
• nauta
• Latin nauclērus
• French nocher

Usage notes

Nocchiero and nocchiere are the same word; the dictionaries give nocchiere as the main form, with a feminine nocchiera.^[3][14][2] A learned form nauclero goes back to the same Latin word.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 699
9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11, 470
10. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it