pupo

Forms

pupo m (plural pupi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pūpus (“boy, child”), a word of expressive origin.^[2][3][4][1] Nocentini treats it together with pupa “doll”, from pūpa (“girl, doll”), as an imitative Latin formation.^[5] DEI calls the word a Roman and southern word from children's speech, and Prati an endearment.^[6][7]

A Latin variant *puppa gave poppa and the old poppazzo “puppet”, and Nocentini sets French poupée (“doll”) beside Old Italian poppada, also a dialect form.^[5][7] A diminutive, Latin pupulus, lives on in Calabrian and other southern dialect words for a rag doll.^[6]

Wiktionary derives the Latin word from a reduplicated form of Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, little”), the root also of Latin puer (“boy”), and reports that de Vaan takes the feminine as the older form.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aretino uses the word for a small child before 1556: “Pupo mio, non sai tu che ogni cosa mia è tua?” (“My little one, don't you know that all I have is yours?”).^[8] The record stays isolated until the 19th century.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word came back into writing from the dialect of Rome: Belli has it in 1835, and Panzini noted in 1905 that in Roman dialect pupo also meant a little child or a baby at the breast.^[8] DEI also records it for a doll or a figure of the Christmas crib.^[6]

The sense “puppet” is recorded in 1846, when Valeriani called it a Gallic word that some Italians used for the puppets of travelling theatres.^[8] By 1931 Panzini described the pupi as the marionettes of Sicily that still act the deeds of Orlando and Rinaldo.^[8] The Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, quoted by DELI, tells that the chivalric marionettes reached Naples with Castilian puppeteers in 1646, and gives the traditions that brought them to Sicily (Gaetano Greco in 1844, Giovanni Grasso in 1861), with a puppet theatre run by Gaetano Crimi at Catania already in 1837.^[8] The opera dei pupi is the Sicilian puppet theatre of the paladins of France.^[2][4][9]

From pupo come pupazzo “puppet, doll” (first half of the 17th century) and puparo, the puppet master (1908).^[5]

Timeline

• Before 1556 – Aretino uses pupo for a small child.^[8]
• First half of the 17th century – Pupazzo is recorded.^[5]
• 1835 – Belli uses the word in Roman dialect.^[8]
• 1846 – Valeriani records pupo for a puppet.^[8]
• 1905 – Panzini notes the Roman sense “baby”.^[8]
• 1908 – Puparo is recorded.^[5]
• 1931 – Panzini describes the Sicilian pupi.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (colloquial, regional) A small child, a little one, used as an endearment: il pupo dorme ancora.^{[2][9][10][1]}
2. (theatre) A marionette of the Sicilian popular theatre, usually one of the paladins of France or their Moorish enemies: opera dei pupi.^[2][4][9][1]
3. (figurative, derogatory) A silly, awkward man.^[11]

Word family

• pupazzo
• puparo
• pupino
• pupetto
• pupone

Related words

• pupa
• poppa
• Latin pupus

Usage notes

In the sense “child” the feminine is pupa.^[12][3] Diminutives and endearments are pupino and pupetto, and the augmentative is pupone.^[12][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3154
7. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 812
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana