pippione

Forms

pippione m (plural pippioni)^[1] The old form is Old Italian pipione.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin pīpiō (“young pigeon”), from the accusative pīpiōnem, a noun formed on the Latin verb meaning “to chirp”, of imitative origin.^{[4][5][6][1][7]} Nocentini explains it as a nestling that cheeps.^[5]

It is the regular Tuscan outcome of the Latin word.^[2][5] The common word piccione is a southern variant, where ⟨-ppj-⟩ became ⟨-čč-⟩, recorded at Naples in the 15th century.^[5][2][1] DEI had thought the southern word came through French or Spanish instead.^[2] A dissimilated Vulgar Latin *pibio lies behind Lombard pivion, Piedmontese piviun and French pigeon.^[8][6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI finds pipione from the 13th century, in the Testi sangimignanesi.^[2] One of these San Gimignano texts sets a toll on young pigeons: Item di ciascuno paio di pipioni denari i (“Likewise for each pair of young pigeons, one denaro”).^[3] DEI dates the word to 1334 at Orvieto, and to Crescenzi's translation in the 14th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century young pigeons were prized as food: Giovanni Villani lists their price in a famine year, and an old Bible translation has due tortore ovver due pippioni (“two turtledoves or two young pigeons”) as an offering.^[3][9]

The figurative sense “simpleton” is recorded from 1618 (Buonarroti).^[6] The jocular tremare i pippioni “to tremble with fear” is in Franco Sacchetti in the 14th century;^[6][10] Treccani explains pippioni there as testicles, by assonance with coglioni.^[6][10] Tommaseo records avere uova e pippioni, said of someone who no sooner finishes one affair than another comes along, and notes that the word lived on in some Tuscan dialects.^[9] Derivatives include pippioncino (Lorenzo de' Medici) and pippionaccio “fool” (16th century).^[6]

Timeline

• 13th century – Pipione appears in the Testi sangimignanesi.^[2]
• 1334 – Pippione is recorded at Orvieto.^[6][4]
• 14th century – Franco Sacchetti uses tremare i pippioni.^[6]
• 15th century – Southern piccione is recorded at Naples.^[5]
• 1618 – Buonarroti uses pippione for a simpleton.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic, regional Tuscan) A young pigeon; piccione.^{[4][11][10][1]}
2. (figurative) A simpleton, a gullible person.^{[4][11][12][10]}
3. (jocular, plural) The testicles, in tremare i pippioni, to shake with fear.^[4][10][13]

Word family

• pippioncino
• pippionata

Related words

• piccione
• French pigeon
• Latin pīpiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 539
4. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2940
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ 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)
11. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli