parco

parco¹ park

Pronunciation

• /ˈpar.ko/^[1]

Forms

parco m (plural parchi)^[1] The variant barco was used by Berni and is northern: it is recorded at Padua and Vicenza in 1482.^[2]

Etymology

The park is probably borrowed from Old French parc, recorded in French in 1175.^[3][4][5][1] The French word comes from Medieval Latin parricus (“enclosure”), first attested in the 8th-century Lex Ripuaria.^[4][6][1] DELI thinks the word is pre-Indo-European.^[3] Nocentini derives it from a pre-Latin *parra, which survives in Spanish parra (“vine arbour”) and its Portuguese counterpart, while Treccani and Gabrielli think it probably Germanic.^[3][4][7][8] Wiktionary leaves open whether the Medieval Latin word was borrowed from Frankish *parrik or the reverse.^[1]

The Medieval Latin word passed into Old High German pfarrih (modern German Pferch (“pen, fold”)) and Old English pearroc, the source of English paddock.^[4] The French word also gave parque and English park.^[4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Giovanni Villani, before 1348, writes that the king fece il parco della caccia presso a Gravina, “made the hunting park near Gravina”: a large enclosed wood where game was kept.^[3][10]

Semantic evolution

The sense “large garden” is dated to 1832 by Battisti and Alessio.^[6] From the 18th century parco was also a space for storing material, at first the artillery park (before 1786), later vehicles and goods; from this came the sense of the whole stock of vehicles, as in parco macchine.^[3][5]

Parco nazionale is a calque of American English national park: Garollo in 1895 cited national parks as a typical institution of the United States.^[3] The car age brought parcheggio (1938), parchimetro (1942) and parcheggiare (1954).^[4] Italian passed the word on to Greek and Sardinian.^[1]

Timeline

• 1175 – French parc is recorded.^[3][5]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses parco for a hunting park.^[3]
• Before 1786 – D'Antonj uses it for an artillery park.^[3]
• 1832 – The sense “large garden” is recorded.^[6]
• 1895 – Garollo mentions the American national parks.^[3]
• 1938 – Parcheggio is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large wooded area, usually fenced, where game is kept and hunting is restricted.^[5][7][8]
2. A protected natural area: parco nazionale, parco marino.^[5][11][12]
3. A large public or private garden with trees, lawns and paths; a park: Ogni domenica corre nel parco vicino a casa.^[5][11][12]
4. An area equipped for a purpose: parco giochi (playground), parco divertimenti (amusement park).^[11][13]
5. A yard or depot for materials, and the materials kept there.^[5][12]
6. The vehicles of a company or body, or those in circulation in an area: parco macchine.^[5][12]

Word family

• parcheggiare
• parcheggio
• parchimetro
• parcometro
• parcare

parco² frugal

Etymology tree of parco²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin parcus

Italian parco

Pronunciation

• /ˈpar.ko/^[1]

Forms

parco (feminine parca, masculine plural parchi, feminine plural parche)^[1]

Etymology

The adjective is a learned word, borrowed from Latin parcus (“sparing, frugal”), from parcō (“to spare, refrain”), the verb behind parsimonia.^[3][4][5] The same Latin word is Spanish parco.^[4] DELI calls the verb's origin uncertain; de Vaan reports the proposal of Keller and Weiss to derive it from Proto-Indo-European *pe-h₂erk- (“to hold off”), the root of arceō (“to keep off”).^[3][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dante uses the word before 1321 in the sense “sober, frugal”.^[3][5] In the Purgatorio he also uses it for “slow”: a soul weighed down by Adam's flesh al montar su, contra sua voglia, è parco, “is slow to climb, against its will”.^[11][15]

Semantic evolution

Battaglia records an old form pargo.^[10] From restraint in food and drink the adjective passed to restraint in spending, at times with the negative sense “stingy”, and to restraint in words and praise; of a meal it means simple and scant, as in Tasso's parca mensa.^[5][15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Moderate, sober, frugal: È parco nel bere.^[5][11][12]
2. Sparing with money, (derogatory) stingy.^[5][11]
3. Sparing, reluctant to give: parco di lodi.^[5][11][12]
4. Of a meal, plain and scant.^[5][11]
5. (literary) Slow.^[11][8]

Word family

• parcamente
• parchezza
• parcità