pappa

Forms

pappa f (plural pappe)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pappa (“food (in children's speech)”), a nursery word recorded by the Latin grammarians;^[2][3][4][1] DELI also names the Latin verb pappō.^[2][3][4][1] Varro, quoted by Nonius, already has it.^[5][6] The Latin word is imitative, from the first movements of a baby's mouth.^[7][3][1]

Compare Old French papa and papin (13th century),^[5] Spanish papa^[3] and Sardinian paba.^[8] Nocentini derives papà and pappare from the same source.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Zucchero Bencivenni's Florentine health treatise of 1310, where pappa is a thick soft dish made of breadcrumb with other ingredients: pappa di midola di pane e di mele, di latte e d'un poco di zuchero (“pap of breadcrumb and honey, milk and a little sugar”).^[9][2][10] DELI glosses this first sense as a thin soup of milk or semolina for newly weaned children or old people.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used pappa for food in children's speech.^[9] Alberti speaks of making la pappa e zuppa pe’ fanciulli, and later writers mention it as food for the sick and for the toothless old.^[10] Tommaseo records a poultice of breadcrumb and milk (1871), a sense the Venetian papa already had in Boerio's dictionary of 1829.^[2]

The word has many derivatives and phrases: pappardelle (1345), pappare “to gobble” (before 1367), pappagorgia “double chin” (before 1686), pappina (1598), and pappa reale, “royal jelly”.^[2][3] Pappone, “glutton”, came to mean “pimp” in Pasolini (1959).^[2] Figurative uses include pappa molle or pappa fredda, a spineless or dull person, and trovare la pappa pronta, to find everything done for one.^[11][12][13]

Timeline

• 1310 – Zucchero Bencivenni writes of pappa made of breadcrumb, honey and milk.^[9][2]
• 1345 – Pappardelle appear in the Libro della Mensa.^[2]
• Before 1367 – Fazio degli Uberti uses pappare.^[2]
• 1598 – The diminutive papina is recorded in an inventory of Alfonso II d'Este.^[2]
• 1829 – Boerio records Venetian papa for a poultice.^[2]
• 1871 – Tommaseo records pappa for a poultice of bread and milk.^[2]
• 1913 – Pappamolle is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A soft dish of bread, semolina or the like cooked in water, broth or milk; pap.^[4][11][14]
2. baby food: any soft food given to newly weaned babies.^[4][11][1]
3. (childish) Food, a meal: Vieni, che la pappa si fredda!^[4][11][15]
4. Soup in general;^[4][11][14] pappa al pomodoro or pappa col pomodoro, a Tuscan soup of stale bread and tomato.^[4][11][14]
5. Food that has fallen apart from overcooking; any watery paste, mush.^{[4][11][15][12]}
6. (fishing) A mixture of flour, bread and other ingredients used as bait or groundbait.^[4]
7. (medicine) A concentrated suspension of cells, used especially in transfusion.^[4]
8. (slang) Illicit gain;^[11] farsi la pappa, to keep back part of the loot from one's accomplices.^[11]

Word family

• pappina
• pappetta
• pappare
• pappardella
• pappagorgia
• pappone
• pappataci
• pappatoria
• pappamolle
• pappolata
• papposo
• impappinare
• spappolare

Related words

• papà
• Latin pappa

Usage notes

Common phrases: pappa reale, royal jelly;^{[13][14][16][11]} essere pappa e ciccia, to be very close, often in shady dealings;^{[13][14][16][11]} scodellare la pappa a qualcuno, to prepare someone's work in every detail;^{[13][14][16][11]} mangiare la pappa in capo a qualcuno, to be taller, cleverer or more powerful than someone.^{[13][14][16][11]} Roman slang has a masculine invariable pappa, “pimp”, taken from pappare (from its imperative, says Devoto–Oli) and recorded from 1953.^{[4][13][11][10]}

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 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2758
6. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 520
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
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. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli