pernice

Forms

pernice f (plural pernici)^[1] Old Italian also had perdice, used by Boccaccio, Sannazaro and Ariosto, and northern Old Italian pernise and Old Italian pernixe.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin perdīx (“partridge”).^[5][6][7][1] The Latin word comes from Ancient Greek πέρδιξ (pérdix).^[5][6][1] DELI, GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti derive the Greek name from πέρδομαι (pérdomai, “to break wind”), after the noise the bird makes as it rises.^[5][7][8][6] Treccani notes that the ancients already made that link, and DEI calls the Greek word an Aegean relic.^[9][4]

The Latin word gave French perdrix, Occitan perditz, Catalan perdiu, Spanish perdiz and Portuguese perdiz.^[6][10] The ⟨n⟩ of the Italian form comes from crossing with Latin coturnix (“quail”), as in Dalmatian pernaica and Friulian pernîs.^{[10][3][11][4][8]} Nocentini thinks the change fairly recent, because the older form was Old Italian perdice.^[6] In Calabria a crossing with beccaccia gave the word for the woodcock.^[10][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is pernise in Uguccione da Lodi at the beginning of the 13th century, among the dishes of a rich table: e fasani e pernise et altre dignitade, “and pheasants and partridges and other fine things”.^[5][2][12] Pernice is in Bono Giamboni before 1292, who says the bird is always hunted for the goodness of its flesh.^[5][12]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the partridge was a luxury food, a subject of the bestiaries and of the medical books, and the name was also used for the grey partridge or starna.^[2] The bestiaries told that partridges steal one another's eggs, and that the young leave their foster mother when they hear their real mother sing.^[13]

In the 17th century Redi used the name for a kind of seashell.^[4] Occhio di pernice, “partridge's eye”, names a round corn between the toes and a muscat grape and its wine, like French œil de perdrix.^[4][14] Italian lent the word to Old French as pernis, and to Franco-Provençal and Alemannic German.^[1]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi writes pernise.^[5][2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni writes pernice.^[5]
• 14th century – Boccaccio uses the older form perdice.^[4]
• 1871 – Occhio di pernice is recorded for a grape and its wine.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. partridge, a game bird of the pheasant family, about the size of a pigeon, with brownish plumage and red bill and legs, hunted for its meat: un piatto di pernici arrosto.^{[7][8][15][1]}
2. The name of several related birds: pernice rossa (red-legged partridge), pernice bianca (rock ptarmigan), pernice di mare (collared pratincole).^{[7][16][15][14]}
3. occhio di pernice: a small round corn between the toes.^[14][17]
4. (textiles) A woollen cloth for men's suits with light dots on a dark ground.^[8][17]

Word family

• perniciotto

Related words

• coturnice
• starna
• Latin perdix
• French perdrix

Usage notes

DEI records minor homographs: a nautical pernice (1602), each of the two wooden arms that held the windlass, and an obsolete military one (1759), a gun firing eight-pound balls.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 762
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2861
5. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 67
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
17. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli