paniccia

Forms

paniccia f (plural panicce)^[1] Variants are panizza, which is Sienese and is the form of several dialects, and paniccio and panizzo.^[2][1][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Medieval Latin panicia, recorded in Medieval Latin from 768 for a porridge of meal or a millet soup.^[4][5][2][6] The Medieval Latin word is the feminine of Late Latin pānīcium (“millet porridge”), which is from Latin pānīcum (“Italian millet”).^{[5][3][7][1][8]} Nocentini instead derives it from pānis (“bread”).^[4]

The origin of pānīcum is itself uncertain: it is formed either on pānis or on pānus (“ear of millet; thread on a bobbin”).^[1][9] Devoto takes the second word in the sense “millet” and doubts that it is the same word as the one meaning “thread on a bobbin”.^[8] The same Latin word gave panico, the millet.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini and DEI date the word to the 14th century, with the sense of a porridge of meal.^[4][2] An Old Tuscan cookery book gives a recipe de la paniccia col latte, pulses boiled and finished with milk and lard, and the Pataffio has someone smeared with paniccia.^[6][11]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century Soderini used the word for any matter reduced to a sticky pulp, here mistletoe bark left to rot and then pounded.^[11][2] Later it also meant pap for infants and mash for poultry.^[6] Tommaseo noted that the old sense “porridge” was no longer used in his time, while fare paniccia of someone meant to beat him soundly.^[11]

In modern Tuscan the word is a dense, soggy mass, usually said with disapproval of overcooked food.^[12][3][5] In the dialects it names local dishes: a millet soup in Venetia and Trentino, a polenta of chickpea flour in Liguria, and a risotto with beans and cabbage in Piedmont.^[2][7][3]

Timeline

• 768 – Medieval Latin panicia is recorded.^[2]
• 1300s – Paniccia “porridge” appears in Italian.^[4][2][5]
• 1500s – Soderini uses it for a sticky pulp.^[2][11]
• 1861 – Tommaseo calls the sense “porridge” out of use.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Tuscany) A thick, soft, shapeless mass, like an overcooked farinata; a mush, poltiglia: il riso è scotto, è diventato una paniccia.^[5][3][12]
2. (regional, Liguria) A polenta or flat cake made of chickpea flour.^[5][7][3][1]
3. (regional, Piedmont) A risotto with beans, cabbage and cured meats, as in Novara and Vercelli.^[3][7][13]

Word family

• impanicciare

Related words

• panico
• pane
• panzana

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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2747
3. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 315
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli