pennecchio

Forms

pennecchio m (plural pennecchi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pēniculum (“brush; sponge”), literally “little tail”, a diminutive of pēnis (“tail”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Nocentini explains the Italian sense by the same image: a tuft of wool or flax looks like a horse's tail.^[3] The double /nn/ is due to the influence of penna (“feather”).^{[3][6][1][7][5]} The Latin noun is formed with the diminutive suffix -culus.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Dante, who died in 1321, for the amount of wool or flax put on the distaff at one time.^[2] In the Paradiso he praises the old Florentine families whose women were content al fuso e al pennecchio “with the spindle and the distaff”.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

Older forms are penecchio and pennechio.^[5] An early commentary on Dante glosses the word as a handful of wool spun from the distaff.^[10] The word kept its place in the vocabulary of spinning, beside the synonyms roccata and conocchia.^[11][12]

By extension it came to mean a handful of tow or another tuft of fibres not meant for spinning, a tuft of hair, and figuratively a plume of smoke.^{[4][6][11][3]}

Timeline

• Before 1321 – Dante uses pennecchio in the Paradiso.^[2][9]
• 14th century – Nocentini dates the word to this century.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (textiles) The amount of flax, hemp, wool or other fibre wound round the distaff to be spun with the spindle; roccata.^{[4][6][11][12]}
2. (by extension) A handful or tuft of fibre not meant for spinning: un pennecchio di ovatta, a tuft of cotton wool.^[4][11]
3. A tuft of hair.^[4][6]
4. (figurative) A plume of smoke or vapour.^[4][6][3]

Word family

• appennecchiare

Related words

• pene
• penna
• Latin pēniculus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli