noce

Forms

noce f (plural noci, diminutive nocìna, augmentative nocióna)^[1] As the name of the tree, its wood and its colour the word is masculine, il noce (plural noci); as the fruit it is feminine, la noce.^[1][2][3] DEI notes that the masculine for the tree is Tuscan, Sicilian, of Otranto and of Ticino, while the other dialects use the feminine, and that the north mostly names the tree with the type nogara.^[4] Old and dialect forms include Old Italian nocie, Old Italian nuce and the Venetian nosa and nose.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nux (“nut”), from the accusative nucem, which in Latin named both the fruit and the tree.^[6][7][8][9] The Latin word meant any fruit with a hard shell, such as almonds or hazelnuts, and was specified with adjectives such as nux abellana.^[4][9] DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance /ˈnʊk-e/, feminine, meaning both the walnut and the walnut tree;^[10] Romanian, Tuscan and Sicilian also have a masculine for the tree.^[10]

The same word is French noix, Occitan noz, Spanish nuez, Portuguese noz, Sardinian nughe and Romanian nuc (“walnut tree”) beside nucă (“walnut”), and Dalmatian nauk (Veglia).^[7][11][12] Some varieties remade it as a feminine in ⟨-a⟩, as in Romanian and in Catalan noga (“large walnut”).^[11][10]

Nocentini and DEI trace the Latin word to Proto-Indo-European *kneu-, a root of the western Indo-European languages, comparing Old Irish cnú, German Nuss and English nut;^[7][4] DEI takes the original sense to have been “round fruit, ball”.^[7][4] De Vaan, starting from Proto-Italic *knuk-, finds the initial cluster, the different suffixes in Celtic and Germanic and the narrow spread of the word typical of a loan, and takes it to be of non-Indo-European origin;^[13] Treccani calls it of unknown origin.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the fruit to the third quarter of the 13th century and the tree to 1289.^[7] DELI's first record of the fruit is the Novellino (late 13th century), and of the wood, hard and compact and prized for furniture, a Sienese customs statute of 1301–1303.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The tree is described in the 14th-century Italian translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi (about 1350), which explains its name by a popular etymology: Il noce è detto perché nuoce (“the walnut is so called because it harms”), since its shade was held to be harmful to other trees.^[6][14][15] The same translation already uses noce for the fruit of other plants resembling the walnut, and Francesco da Barberino (before 1348) for a piece of something the size of a walnut, as in una noce di burro today.^[6][8]

Later uses come from the shape: the ankle bone (before 1492, Bellincioni), the nut of the crossbow that holds the string, a part of the spindle and of the gunlock, and in butchery a cut from the inside of the thigh of beef or veal (1958).^[6][1][8] In some dialects the outcomes of the Latin word also mean “nape of the neck”, and Catalan and Spanish call the larynx the “walnut of the neck” or “of the throat”.^[11] Folk belief made the walnut tree of Benevento the meeting place of witches.^[9][16]

Many phrases name other nuts: noce moscata “nutmeg” goes back to Medieval Latin nux muscata (late 13th century), and noce di cocco “coconut” is recorded before 1916.^[7] Guscio di noce “walnut shell” is a small, light boat, and the proverb una noce in un sacco non fa rumore (“one walnut in a sack makes no noise”) says that one voice alone is not heard.^[17][18][16]

Timeline

• 1250–1275 – First record of noce for the fruit.^[7]
• 1289 – Noce for the walnut tree.^[7]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses the word for the fruit.^[6]
• Late 13th century – Noce moscata “nutmeg”, after Medieval Latin nux muscata.^[7]
• 1301–1303 – The Sienese customs statute uses it for the wood.^[6]
• Before 1348 – Francesco da Barberino uses it for a piece the size of a walnut.^[6]
• About 1350 – The translation of Crescenzi describes the tree.^[6]
• Before 1492 – Bellincioni uses it for the ankle bone.^[6]
• 1817 – Nocino, a children's game with walnuts; in 1906, the walnut liqueur.^[7]
• 1958 – The butchers' cut noce di vitello is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (feminine) The walnut, the fruit of the walnut tree, with a green fleshy husk (mallo), a woody shell and an edible, oily kernel (gheriglio); also the kernel itself.^[8][2][3]
2. (feminine) Any fruit or seed resembling the walnut: noce di cocco “coconut”, noce moscata “nutmeg”.^[8][2][17]
3. (feminine, botany) A nut, a dry fruit that does not split open, with a woody shell and usually one seed.^[8][2][3]
4. (feminine) A small lump the size of a walnut, used as a kitchen measure: una noce di burro “a knob of butter”.^[17][3][2]
5. (feminine) A part of a mechanism shaped like a walnut: the nut of a crossbow that holds the string, the tumbler of a gunlock, a part of the spindle.^[8][1][3]
6. (feminine, butchery) A cut from the inside of the thigh of veal or beef.^[6][1]
7. (masculine) The walnut tree (Juglans regia), grown for its nuts and its timber.^[8][2][3]
8. (masculine) The hard, compact wood of this tree, used for furniture: un tavolo di noce “a walnut table”.^[8][2][3]
9. (masculine) The dark brown colour of this wood.^[8][3]

Adjective

1. (invariable) Of the dark brown colour of walnut wood: una porta color noce “a walnut-coloured door”.^[8][2][3]

Word family

• nocino
• noceto
• nocella
• nocetta
• nociaiolo
• noce moscata
• noce di cocco
• schiaccianoci

Related words

• nocciolo
• nocciola
• Latin nux
• French noix

Usage notes

Avere le noci in bocca (“to have walnuts in one's mouth”) is said of someone who speaks indistinctly.^[2][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 d e f g h i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2592
5. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11, 476
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ 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)
10. ^ a b c Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
11. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11, 475
16. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
18. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana