nocciolo

nocciolo¹ fruit stone

Pronunciation

• /ˈnɔt.t͡ʃo.lo/^[1]

Forms

nocciolo m (plural noccioli)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the fruit stone has no agreed etymology.^[2][3][1] Nocentini and the GDLI take it as a Romance formation: it is inherited from Latin nuceus (“of a nut”) with a diminutive suffix, the adjective of nux (“nut”) having come to mean the hard, woody part of a fruit.^[4][5] Giovanni Alessio, quoted by DELI, argued that the southern dialect words for the olive stone can only come from the adjective, which is recorded in Latin from Cato to the Middle Ages, and which also lies behind nocciola.^[6] Nocentini explains the stressed ⟨ò⟩ by the influence of nouns in -occio.^[4]

Other dictionaries derive the word from nucleus (“kernel”), itself a diminutive of the Latin word for “nut”.^{[7][8][9][10][11]} The REW files it under that word, beside Tarantino nittsulu,^[12] and Wiktionary also considers the variant nuculeus and the diminutive nucleolus.^[1][11] Sabatini–Coletti sees a blend of the two Latin words,^[13] and GRADIT calls the origin uncertain, perhaps connected with nocchio (“knot in wood”).^[2] Compare Sicilian nòzzulu.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the first record to 1282 and GRADIT to before 1320.^[4][2] DELI's first example is the translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi's treatise on agriculture, about 1350, in the botanical sense: the woody inner layer of a drupe that protects the seed.^[6] The translation notes that when the branches of plums, cherries “or other fruits that have stones” are grafted on a willow, the fruits grow without stones.^[5][14]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, the inner essence or real meaning of something, is first recorded in 1605 in A. Allegri.^[6] Tommaseo compared the word with Pliny's Latin nucleolus.^[14] Children played a game with peach stones, and giocare a noccioli came to mean wasting one's time on trifles;^[9][10][8] non valere un nocciolo means to be worth nothing, and essere due anime in un nocciolo describes two inseparable friends.^[9][10][8]

By extension the word names the central part of a device or structure, such as the piece of the lock that governed the hammer in old firearms, the central shank of a screw, and the core of a nuclear reactor, where fission takes place.^[9][2] Nocciolo duro is the hard core of a group, and in economics the shareholders who control a company.^[8][15] The verb snocciolare (16th century) means to stone fruit, and denocciolare is recorded before 1965.^[4]

Timeline

• 1282 – First record, as Nocentini dates it.^[4]
• Before 1320 – First record, as GRADIT dates it.^[2]
• About 1350 – The translation of Crescenzi uses nocciolo for the stone of a fruit.^[6]
• 16th century – Snocciolare “to stone (fruit)” is recorded.^[4]
• 1605 – A. Allegri uses the word for the essence of something.^[6]
• Before 1965 – Denocciolare is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The stone or pit of a fruit: the hard, woody inner layer of a drupa that holds the seed: Ha sputato il nocciolo dell'oliva.^[2][13][9]
2. (loosely) The seed of a fruit that is not a drupe, such as the medlar.^[2][9]
3. By extension, something shaped and hard like a stone; a rounded lump.^[2]
4. (figurative) The core or crux of a question: Veniamo al nocciolo del discorso.^[2][13][8]
5. (technology) The central part of a device or structure; the core of a nuclear reactor, which holds the fuel and in which fission takes place.^[2][13][10]

Word family

• snocciolare
• denocciolare
• noccioletto

nocciolo² hazel tree

Etymology tree of nocciolo²

inherited borrowed derived

Italian nocciola

Italian nocciolo

Pronunciation

• /notˈt͡ʃɔ.lo/^[1]

Forms

nocciolo m (plural noccioli)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the hazel tree is from Italian nocciola (“hazelnut”), the masculine form of the name of the nut.^{[2][16][13][9][17][1]} The fruit name goes back to Vulgar Latin *nuceola, a diminutive of nuceus (“of a nut”), the adjective of nux (“nut”).^[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word to 1348–1353, and DELI records nocciuolo in Boccaccio in 1353.^[2][6] In the Decameron a man buys an estate “among olive trees and hazels and chestnuts, of which the country has plenty” (tra ulivi e nocciuoli e castagni).^[17]

Semantic evolution

Old texts write nocciuolo and nociuolo, and nocciuolo survives as a literary form.^[17][16] Merchants counted hazels among the fruit trees of a garden, and agricultural writers explained how to plant them from suckers.^[17] The word also names the pinkish-white wood, used for small crafts, turning, barrel hoops and sticks, as in Giusti's Colla su' brava mazza di nocciolo (“with his good hazel stick”).^[9][13] Besides the common hazel, northern Italy grows the filbert and the Turkish hazel.^[9]

Timeline

• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio's Decameron names hazels with olives and chestnuts.^[2][17]
• About 1370 – Nocentini's date for nocciolo, nocciuolo “hazel”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The hazel, a shrub or small tree of the birch family (Corylus avellana), with toothed oval leaves, that bears hazelnuts.^{[2][13][9][10]}
2. Hazel wood, pinkish white, used in turning and small crafts.^[13][9][10]

Word family

• noccioleto