pedicello

pedicello¹ flower stalk

Forms

pedicello m (plural pedicelli)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the flower stalk is borrowed from Latin pedicellus, a diminutive of pediculus (“little foot; footstalk”), itself from pēs (“foot”).^[2][3][1][4] DELI describes it as a learned remaking, with a diminutive suffix, of the Latin word for “little foot”, which meant first that and then also “stalk”.^[5] Wiktionary calls the source scientific Latin.^[1] The Latin word is in Columella and Pliny, according to DEI.^[4]

The same scientific word is French pédicelle and English pedicel.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI and De Mauro date the word to Clarici, before 1725, in the botanical sense; the form piediciuolo is recorded in 1675.^[5][3] Nocentini dates it to 1597.^[2] Clarici wrote of the dense substance of the leaves “and of the pedicel that supports it”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Vallisneri explained that botanists call pedicello the small stalk on which a flower, leaf or fruit hangs.^[6] DEI records pedicellato “having pedicels” from 1804.^[4] In zoology the word came to name the tube feet of echinoderms, the pedicelli ambulacrali, which stretch out, fix themselves to the bottom and contract to move the animal.^[3][7][8] English pedicel is recorded in botany from 1676 and in anatomy and zoology from 1826.^[4]

Timeline

• 1597 – Nocentini's date for the first record.^[2]
• 1675 – The form piediciuolo is recorded.^[5]
• Before 1725 – Clarici uses pedicello in botany.^[5][3]
• 1804 – Pedicellato is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) A pedicel, the stalk of each single flower in an inflorescence.^[7][8][9]
2. (zoology) pedicello ambulacrale: a tube foot of echinoderms, used for moving and clinging.^[7][10][8]

Word family

• pedicellato

pedicello² itch mite, small boil

Forms

pedicello m (plural pedicelli)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the itch mite and the small boil is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pedicellus (“itch mite”), a diminutive of pēdiculus (“louse”).^{[2][11][3][9]} Wiktionary takes it from a Late Latin word for “small louse”, while DELI sees a learned diminutive remaking of the word for louse, a variant of pēduculus.^[1][5] The same Latin word survives in Romanian păducel.^[2][11]

That word is the diminutive of pēdis (“louse”).^[12][1] De Vaan rejects an analysis as “who eats away”, thinks it more likely related to Avestan pazdu- (“beetle, maggot”), and reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *pesd- (“annoying insect”).^[13]

Dialect forms include Sicilian pidiceddu.^[4][11] Prati derives Old Italian pellicello “itch mite” from this word, influenced by pelle “skin”.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Burchiello, before 1449, in the sense “louse”, or “itch mite”: the pedicelli in a friar's hands.^[5][3][15]

Semantic evolution

Mattioli's translation of Dioscorides has pidicello for a boil in 1544, and Garzoni's book on horses of 1692 has pedicello for it.^[5] For Garzoni pedicelli were also a disease of the horse's hoof, at the crown between the hair and the hoof.^[16][11] In 1671 Redi used the word for a small worm, and in the 18th century the physician Antonio Cocchi wrote that the cause of scabies was not an inner humour but living creatures called pedicelli or pellicelli.^[5][8] Today the word is regional, in central Italy, for a small boil or pimple.^[7][10][9]

Timeline

• Before 1449 – Burchiello uses pedicelli of lice or mites.^[5][3]
• 1544 – Pidicello “boil” appears in Mattioli's Dioscorides.^[5]
• 1671 – Redi uses pedicello for a small worm.^[5]
• 1692 – Garzoni writes pedicello for a boil.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) The itch mite, the mite that causes scabies.^[3][10][8]
2. (archaic) A louse or a similar parasite; a small worm.^[3][9][17]
3. (regional, central Italy) A small boil or pimple.^[3][7][9]

Word family

• pellicello