pannocchia

Forms

pannocchia f (plural pannocchie)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian pannochia and Old Italian panocchia.^[2][3] Popular Italian also has spannocchia.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin *panŭcula, a Late Latin variant of panĭcula (“tuft, panicle”), diminutive of pānus (“spike of millet”).^[6][7][8][1] Wiktionary takes the Italian word from the contracted Vulgar Latin pānucla.^[1] The double ⟨nn⟩ is found already in the Late Latin glosses, as pannucla.^[9][3][10] Meyer-Lübke explains it by crossing with Latin pannus (“cloth”).^[11]

The same word gave pranuka at Nuoro and Sardinian pannuga in Campidano, Friulian panole, Occitan panulho (whence French panouil), Catalan panolla and Spanish panoja.^[11][7] Eastern Tuscan has panocchia with a single ⟨n⟩.^[11][9]

The Latin sense “swelling” also survives: Venetian panocia “tumour” (also at Como) and Aromanian pănucle “plague”, which may come through Modern Greek.^[11][9] For the Latin base word de Vaan suggests a loan from a Doric Greek form related to Ancient Greek πήνη (pḗnē, “yarn”) in the sense “spool”, the sense “tuft” being a metaphor.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in a Pisan translation of Albertano (1287–1288), for the head of grain of some grasses.^[2][7] DELI finds it as a personal name already in 1158, and as the ear of millet, panic grass and similar grasses in the Italian Crescenzi (about 1350).^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used pannocchia for the tail of a horse (Giamboni) and, in 15th-century Florentine slang, for the penis.^[2][13][9] Sacchetti wrote of a single grain of panic grass growing into a pannocchia that bears thousands.^[3] Pulci compares heads struck off to una pannocchia / di panico, o di miglio, o di saggina.^[14] Dante used spannocchiarsi figuratively.^[13]

In modern Italian the word names above all the ear of maize, and in botany a panicle.^[8][15] From 1930 it is also the mantis shrimp, from the resemblance of its belly to a corncob.^[15][5]

Timeline

• 1158 – Pannocchia appears as a personal name.^[6]
• 1287–1288 – A Pisan translation of Albertano uses pannocchia.^[2][7]
• About 1350 – The Italian version of Crescenzi uses it for the ear of grasses.^[6]
• 15th century – Florentine slang uses it for the penis.^[9]
• 1930 – It is recorded for the mantis shrimp.^[15][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) A panicle: a compound flower cluster whose side branches, shorter towards the tip, are themselves branched.^[8][15][16]
2. An ear of maize, a corncob: In estate mangiamo le pannocchie alla brace.^[8][15][16]
3. The ear of millet, panico and other grasses.^[5][17]
4. (zoology, regional) The mantis shrimp, Squilla mantis.^[8][4][16]

Word family

• pannocchina
• pannocchietta
• pannocchiuto
• spannocchiare
• spannocchiatura

Related words

• panico
• Latin panicula
• Spanish panoja

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2749
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 735
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli