pasco

Forms

pasco m (plural paschi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pascuum (“pasture”), the neuter of the adjective pascuus (“used for pasture”) used as a noun.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Devoto starts from Vulgar Latin *pascum beside the classical form.^[6]

The adjective is from Latin pāscō (“to feed, pasture”) with the suffix -uus, and Devoto compares the relation of arvus to arō.^[5][6][1] Wiktionary traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to protect”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Mauro, Devoto–Oli and Zingarelli date the word to 1313 or before;^[2][3][4][7] DEI cites Dante and the Italian version of Marco Polo.^[2][3][4][7] In Dante's Inferno the overflow of Lake Garda “becomes a river down through green pastures” (e fassi fiume giù per verdi paschi).^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian pasco was the grazing land itself, as in the statutes of Tuscan communes that forbade bringing outside animals onto the local pastures, and in the Marco Polo version, where the Tartars' herds spend the summer for the good grazing.^[8][9] Dante also used it figuratively, of the pastures of the Church overrun by “rapacious wolves in shepherd's clothing”.^[9] DEI records the derivatives pascare “to graze” (Bologna, 1377) and pascone “grazing land” (1452).^[7]

Later the word became literary, used by Tasso and by poets after him, also in the abstract sense of grazing and, figuratively, of nourishment.^[8][2][10] At Siena a magistrato dei paschi was set up early in the 15th century to manage the income from the public pastures of the Sienese Maremma; the name survives only in the bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena.^[10][3]

Timeline

• Before 1313 – First record, in Dante.^[2][3][7]
• 1377 – The verb pascare “to graze” is recorded at Bologna.^[7]
• 1400s – The magistrato dei paschi is created at Siena.^[10]
• 1452 – Pascone “grazing land” is recorded in Loise de Rosa.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) pasture, grazing land.^{[2][3][4][10]}
2. (literary) The act of grazing or feeding.^[2][10]
3. (literary, figurative) nourishment, food.^[2][11]

Related words

• pascolo
• pascere
• pastura
• Latin pascuum

Usage notes

Pasco is also the first person singular present of pascere (io pasco).^[1][4] The common word for pasture is pascolo.^[2][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2788
8. ^ 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, 724
9. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli