piluccare

Forms

piluccare (first-person singular present pilùcco, first-person singular past historic piluccài, past participle piluccàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *piluccāre in the usual explanation, a frequentative of Latin pilō (“to remove the hair”), from pilus (“hair”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The DELI finds that this traditional view, held by Meyer-Lübke, the DEI and Devoto, does not explain the suffix, and the TLIO calls the origin uncertain.^[6][7] Prati derived it from pelo with a suffix -ucco, seen in Piedmontese plüch “small hair” (and plüché “to pick off”), and Venetian peluco.^[8][6] Nocentini similarly starts from a diminutive *pilūccus of the same Latin noun, the source of the Piedmontese and Venetian words.^[9] Zaccaria held it Germanic, following Mackel, who derived the French and Occitan verbs from Old English and Low German.^[10]

The verb has cognates in Old French peluchier (whence French peluche), Old Occitan pelugar “to pick” and Catalan pellucar “to pull away”, and German pflücken “to pick” was taken from the Romance word.^[9][5] French éplucher “to peel, clean” belongs here too.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Florentine poet Monte Andrea, in the second half of the 13th century.^[7][11] The Old Italian senses are “to eat in small bites”, “to bite again and again”, and figuratively “to wear away” and “to torment”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses it of justice that wears sinners away: la piaga / de la giustizia che sì li pilucca “the wound of justice that so consumes them”.^[6][11] Saint Catherine of Siena has the sense “to fleece, to get money out of someone little by little”, and Sacchetti the general sense “to eat”.^[6] In Pulci's Morgante the giant picks the cooked beast almost clean, so that Margutte barely tastes it.^[12]

The sense now felt as the proper one, picking grapes off the bunch one by one, is first dated before 1565, in Varchi.^[6][13] Later uses widen it to nibbling any food and, figuratively, to reading here and there without order.^[11]

Timeline

• 1250–1300 – Monte Andrea uses piluccare.^[7]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “to consume, wear away”.^[6]
• Before 1380 – Saint Catherine of Siena has it in the sense “to fleece”.^[6]
• Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses it for “to eat”.^[6]
• Before 1565 – Benedetto Varchi has it for picking grapes one by one.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pick the grapes off a bunch one by one and eat them: Pilucca il grappolo mentre parla.^{[11][2][14][1]}
2. To nibble, to eat in small bites;^[11][2][14] (figurative) to read here and there without order.^[11][2][14]
3. (figurative) To fleece, to get money or goods from someone little by little by cunning.^{[11][2][14][1]}
4. (literary) To torment, to wear away slowly: la giustizia che sì li pilucca (Dante).^[11][2][14]

Word family

• piluccone
• piluccatore
• spiluccare

Related words

• pelare
• pelo
• spilluzzicare
• Latin pilus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
8. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 778
9. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
11. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 484
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)