pulcino

Forms

pulcino m (plural pulcini)^[1] Old Italian forms include polcino, pulicino, pulizino, pullicino, ponçini, pucini and pulzini.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pullicīnus, a variant with another suffix of Late Latin pullicēnus (“chick”), a diminutive of Latin pullus (“young animal”).^[4][5][6][1] pullicēnus is recorded in Lampridius.^[7][8] Devoto called it a double diminutive, and Wiktionary analyses it as pullus with the suffixes -icus and -ēnus.^[9][1]

The word belongs to Italy and France: French poussin, Old French pulcin and Occitan polzin are the same word.^[7][4][10] Other outcomes are Sicilian puddicinu and Ladin punzin.^[11][7]

The origin of Latin pullus is disputed.^[1][12] It may come from Proto-Indo-European *polH-on- (“offspring, young of an animal”), related to Ancient Greek πῶλος (pôlos, “foal”), or, as de Vaan proposes, from Proto-Italic *putslos, a variant of the word behind putus (“boy”).^[1][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the tithe records of the Mugello near Florence, from the middle of the 13th century, which list un paio di galline e un polcino (“a pair of hens and a chick”) among the dues.^[2][3] The sense is the chick of the hen, the one it still has.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

By the end of the 13th century the word also meant the young of any bird still in the nest, a sense DELI dates to Brunetto Latini.^[5][2] The image of the hen gathering her chicks under her wings came into Italian from the Gospel, in an early translation of John Chrysostom.^[8][3] An Old Italian feminine pulcina meant a young hen.^[7][13]

The figure of the helpless chick gave set phrases for an awkward or timid person: pulcino nel capecchio in Luigi Pulci in the 15th century and pulcino nella stoppa, “a chick in the tow”, in Annibal Caro in the 16th.^[7] Bagnato come un pulcino means soaked to the skin.^[6][14] From the late 19th century the word is an affectionate name for a small child.^[5][6] Since the 1930s it has also named the youngest players of a football club's youth teams.^[5][15]

Timeline

• Mid-13th century – Polcino “chick” appears in the Mugello tithe records.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses the word for a chick and for a nestling.^[5]
• 14th century – Bencivenni uses the feminine pulcina for a young hen.^[7]
• 15th century – Luigi Pulci has pulcino nel capecchio for a helpless person.^[7]
• 16th century – Annibal Caro has pulcino nella stoppa.^[7]
• 17th century – The diminutive pulcinetto appears in Segneri.^[7]
• 1891 – The word is recorded for a very small child.^[5]
• 1934 – The football sense is recorded.^[5][15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A chick, the young of the hen and other domestic fowl, covered in down: La chioccia chiamò i pulcini nell’aia.^{[6][16][17][1]}
2. By extension, the young of any bird still in the nest.^{[6][14][18][2]}
3. (figurative) A timid, naive or helpless person; set phrases: pulcino bagnato (a shy, crestfallen person), pulcino nella stoppa (a person who cannot get out of a difficulty), bagnato come un pulcino (soaked through).^[6][16][17]
4. (colloquial, affectionate) A very small child: Il nonno teneva in braccio il suo pulcino.^[6][15][1]
5. (football) A boy in the youngest youth team of a football club.^[6][16][19]

Word family

• pulcinetto
• pulcinaio
• impulcinare

Related words

• pollo
• pollastro
• Latin pullus
• French poussin

Usage notes

Pulcino is the young bird, and pollo, from the same Latin word, the grown chicken as food or as a bird.^[5][4] The diminutives are pulcinetto and pulcinello.^[14][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 917
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ 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
7. ^ 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. 3143
8. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 810
14. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b c 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 Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
18. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
19. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana