pastoreccio

Forms

pastoreccio (feminine pastoreccia, masculine plural pastorecci, feminine plural pastorecce)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pāstōricius (“of herdsmen”).^[2][1][3][4] The Latin adjective, found in Varro, is formed from pāstor (“shepherd”) with the suffix -icius.^[5][6][1] Wiktionary calls it the inherited doublet of the learned pastorizio, which the Treccani compares.^[1][4]

Meyer-Lübke lists beside it a Ladin word for “herd”, which Battisti and Alessio gloss as a sheepfold.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Zingarelli date the first record before 1543.^[2][7] The earliest quotation in the GDLI and in Tommaseo is from Firenzuola: a young man in quel pastoreccio abito (“that shepherd's dress”) that Paris used to wear in the woods pretends to be the keeper of the herd.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

The adjective always meant “of shepherds”, close to pastorale, and the GDLI notes the nuance of rustic simplicity.^[8] In the 17th to 19th centuries it describes huts, stalls, songs and customs: Bartoli writes of churches reduced to something like capanne pastorecce (shepherds' huts), and Cattaneo of the costumi pastorecci of a southern province.^[8] The GDLI also records it for animals raised for herding.^[8]

In music it was used as a noun for the pastoral style.^[9] Tommaseo already calls it uncommon in the 19th century, with a disparaging ring.^[9] Modern dictionaries label it archaic or obsolete.^[2][10][11]

Timeline

• Before 1543 – Firenzuola writes of quel pastoreccio abito.^[2][8]
• 19th century – Tommaseo labels the word uncommon.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (archaic) pastoral: of shepherds and their life and customs; the same as pastorizio or pastorale.^{[2][10][7][4]}

Related words

• pastore
• pastorizio
• pastorale
• Latin pastor

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2799
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana