Etymologically
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parco

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parco1 park

Pronunciation

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

Pronunciation

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

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
  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 g h i Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2772
  7. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  8. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 578
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  15. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET