pecoraio

Forms

pecoraio m (plural pecorai, feminine pecoraia)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pecorārius (“shepherd”), formed from pecus (“livestock, sheep”) with the agent suffix -ārius.^[1][2][3][4] Meyer-Lübke and Körting give the Latin noun as a reconstruction,^[2][3] while GRADIT cites Medieval Latin ⟨pecorarius⟩ “herdsman” from 867.^[5] Devoto–Oli, Sabatini–Coletti and Treccani treat the word instead as a derivative of pecora with -aio made in Italian.^[6][7][8]

The same word is Romanian păcurar and Portuguese pegureiro.^[2][3] Where pitch is taken from the ground in Romania, the Romanian word means a pitch worker or seller, and cioban has replaced it for the shepherd.^[2] De Vaan traces the Latin noun to Proto-Indo-European *peḱ-u- (“cattle”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word to about 1250.^[5] DELI's first record is in the Novellino, from the end of the 13th century, in the sense “keeper of sheep”: King David, whom God di pecoraio l’avea fatto signore, “had made a lord from a shepherd”.^[10][4]

Semantic evolution

The word is more popular than pastore and often slighting, and it has none of that word's figurative uses.^[8][4] From the shepherd's supposed manners came the sense “coarse, uncouth person”, first recorded in Berni before 1535 and now used mostly in comparisons.^[10][7][8] The central Italian form pecoraro is used by Caro and later writers, and the feminine pecoraia appears in Guarini.^[4][6]

Timeline

• 867 – Medieval Latin pecorarius is recorded.^[5]
• c. 1250 – The Italian word is first recorded.^[5]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino calls King David a pecoraio.^[10][4]
• Before 1535 – Berni uses the word for a rough, uncouth person.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shepherd, a man who keeps sheep.^[5][6][8][1]
2. (figurative, derogatory) A coarse, uncouth or badly dressed person, mostly in comparisons.^[5][7][8]

Adjective

1. Of things, coarse and unmannerly.^[5][11]

Related words

• pastore
• Latin pecus

Usage notes

In central Italy the word is pecoraro.^[6][12][8] A sheepdog can be called cane da pecoraio.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
3. ^ a b c Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
12. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli