oncia

Forms

oncia f (plural once)^[1] Old and regional forms include Old Italian onza, Old Italian onzia and Old Italian uncia.^[2][3] Onza is the southern form.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ŭncia (“a twelfth part; ounce, inch”).^[3][4][6][1] DELI notes that the Old Italian form uncia may be either a learned borrowing or a form remodelled by analogy.^[3] A Medieval Latin onzia already appears in a Lombard-period document of 730.^[7]

The word is found across the Romance languages except Romanian: French once, Occitan onsa, Spanish onza and Portuguese onça, with Engadine untscha.^[4][8][7] The Logudorese untsa was taken from Italian.^[8]

Latin uncia was the twelfth part of a larger unit: of the pound (lībra) for weight, of the as for money and of the foot for length.^[4] It is usually derived from Latin ūnus (“one”), as the unit of the system, though the formation is unusual.^[3][4][9][1] Following Heron of Alexandria, Weiss instead takes it from Ancient Greek ὀγκία (onkía), from ὄγκος (ónkos, “weight”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Italian record is onza in the Contrasto of Cielo d'Alcamo (1231–1250), where it is a money of account.^[3] Dante, who died in 1321, uses oncia for the unit of weight and, in the Inferno, for a minimal distance.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Before the metric system the oncia was a unit of weight in Italy and elsewhere, with values that varied from place to place but were mostly near 30 grams.^[3][10][11] It was also a unit of length, a twelfth of the foot or a fraction of the palm or the braccio, depending on the region, and a unit of water flow.^[10][5] As money, oncia named a money of account from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, and later gold and silver coins struck at Palermo and Naples.^[5][11]

The sense “a tiny amount” is old: Niccolò del Rosso, who died around 1348, uses onza in this way, and Bandello oncia in 1554.^[3] In the Inferno Dante wishes he could move “an inch in a hundred years” (ch'i' potessi in cent'anni andare un'oncia).^[6][11] In the 19th century the word was still used in pharmacy and for the eggs of silkworms, and in boxing for the weight of the gloves.^[2][5] Today it also renders the English ounce of the Anglo-Saxon systems.^[6][12]

German borrowed the word as Once in 1515.^[13]

Timeline

• 730 – Medieval Latin onzia appears in a Lombard document.^[7]
• 1231–1250 – Cielo d'Alcamo uses onza as a money of account.^[3]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses the word for a minimal measure.^[3]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses oncia for the unit of weight.^[3]
• Before about 1348 – Niccolò del Rosso uses onza for “a tiny amount”.^[3]
• 1515 – German Once is first recorded.^[13]
• 1554 – Bandello uses oncia for “a tiny amount”.^[3]
• 18th century – Onciale, the uncial script, is first recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (metrology, historical) A unit of weight used in Italy and other countries before the metric system, of varying value but usually about 30 grams.^[6][10][11]
2. An ounce of the Anglo-Saxon systems, about 28.35 grams (symbol oz), also a measure of liquid capacity.^[6][14]
3. (figurative) A tiny amount: Non c'è un'oncia di verità in quella storia.^[6][10][12]
4. (historical) A unit of length, a twelfth of the foot or a fraction of the palm or braccio according to the region.^[6][10]
5. (numismatics) In antiquity, a Roman and Sicilian-Italiote unit and bronze coin worth a twelfth of the pound or of the as.^[6][10][11]
6. (numismatics) From the Middle Ages to the 18th century, a money of account and later a coin of different value by place and period.^[6][10][11]

Word family

• onciale
• onciario
• semioncia
• oncietta

Related words

• Latin uncia
• French once

Usage notes

A oncia a oncia is a literary phrase for “little by little”.^[11][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11, 954
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2652
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli