riccio

riccio¹ curly; curl

Pronunciation

• /ˈrit.t͡ʃo/^[1]

Forms

riccio (feminine riccia, masculine plural ricci, feminine plural ricce)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “curly” and “curl” is from Italian riccio² (“hedgehog”), probably first used for hair as bristly and rolled up as the animal's spines.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} DELI numbers this word 1 and the hedgehog 2, as GRADIT does;^[2][4][3] Nocentini numbers them the other way round, with the hedgehog first.^[2][4][3] The LEI places all the Italian senses under Latin ērīcius (“hedgehog”), developed from the animal by metaphors of shape.^[7] The same development is found in Spanish rizo and Portuguese riço, which have lost the first syllable as Italian has, and Meyer-Lübke lists the senses “curl” and “curly” beside the hedgehog.^[7][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the noun, in the sense “lock of curled hair”, in Chiaro Davanzati, in the second half of the 13th century.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Ricciuto “curly-haired” is recorded in the 14th century and arricciare “to curl” in 1313.^[2][3] The sense “not smooth, spiral-shaped” appears in 1519 and in Francesco Berni before 1535;^[2] DELI's first record of the adjective “curly”, of hair, is the fourth Crusca dictionary (1735–1738).^[2]

Many shapes like a curl took the name: the scroll of a violin (1872), a wood shaving (1835), butter curls, the raised edges of a grater's holes, the loops of thread in brocade and uncut velvet.^[2][6][11] The Sienese almond biscuits ricciarelli (1891) are probably named from their original curled shape.^[2][3] Catalan borrowed the word as Catalan rínxol.^[1]

Timeline

• Second half of the 13th century – Chiaro Davanzati uses riccio for a lock of hair.^[2][10]
• 1313 – Arricciare “to curl” is first recorded.^[3]
• 14th century – Ricciuto “curly-haired” appears in the vernacular Ovid.^[2]
• 1519 – The adjective is used for something not smooth.^[2]
• 1735–1738 – The fourth Crusca dictionary records the adjective for curly hair.^[2]
• 1863 – Ricciolo “ringlet” is recorded as a word in use.^[2]
• 1872 – The word names the scroll of a violin.^[2]
• 1891 – Ricciarello, the Sienese biscuit, is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. curly: of hair, a beard or fur, coiled in rings or spirals: ha una barba riccia; also curly-haired.^[4][5][12]
2. Crinkled, wavy, not smooth: insalata riccia, pasta riccia.^[4][5][6]
3. (textiles) Of velvet, with an uncut pile of looped threads; of gold or silver thread, wound tightly round a silk core.^[4][5][6]

Noun

1. A curl, a lock or ringlet of hair: farsi i ricci.^[4][5][12]
2. Anything shaped like a curl: a wood shaving, a curl of butter, the raised edges of the holes of a grater.^[4][5][6]
3. (music) The scroll at the top of the neck of a violin or other bowed instrument.^[4][5][13]
4. (architecture) A volute.^[4][6][13]
5. (in the plural) Sugared almonds with a rough surface.^[6][14][11]

Word family

• ricciolo
• ricciuto
• riccioluto
• ricciarello
• arricciare

riccio² hedgehog

Etymology tree of riccio²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin ēr

Latin ērīcius

Italian riccio

Romanian arici

Spanish erizo

From the same root · riccio²

Latin ērūca ← ēr

Pronunciation

• /ˈrit.t͡ʃo/^[1]

Forms

riccio m (plural ricci)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the hedgehog is inherited from Latin ērīcius (“hedgehog; spiked barrier”), with the loss of the first syllable.^{[2][3][4][7][1]} DEI explains the long ⟨i⟩ of the Italian word as perhaps due to Latin echinus.^[15] The Latin word replaced the older ēr (“hedgehog”), which DELI thinks was lost because it was too short.^[2][3][16]

It survives in every Romance language, mostly without the loss of the first syllable: Romanian arici, Sardinian erittu, Occitan aritz, Spanish erizo and Portuguese ouriço, while the French word is the derivative hérisson.^[3][7][8] Like Italian, Romansh ric in the Engadine and Friulian rìz have lost the first syllable.^[7][8]

Latin ēr goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰḗr (“hedgehog”).^[16][1] Nocentini explains the loss of an initial ⟨h-⟩ as a rustic pronunciation and compares a Greek gloss in Hesychius meaning “hedgehog”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the northern form riço in the Venetian Proverbia quae dicuntur super natura feminarum, of the 12th century: DELI dates the poem 1152–1160 and reads the word as the sea urchin, the TLIO dates it to the last quarter of the century.^[2][10] DELI's first record of the hedgehog is the 14th-century vernacular Bible.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the hedgehog in comparisons for anything bristly or prickly, and for a wary, hostile attitude, the source of chiudersi a riccio, to clam up.^[10][4] Its synonym Latin echinus, from Greek, meant the hedgehog, the sea urchin and the chestnut husk, and Italian riccio took on the same three senses.^[2] The spiny husk of the chestnut is riccio from about 1350 in the vernacular Crescenzi, though parts of Tuscany call it cardo and Arezzo peglia.^[2] DELI suggests that the sea urchin got its name either from the land animal, since both are eaten, or from the chestnut husk, which Pietro Andrea Mattioli compared it to before 1577.^[2]

In military language the riccio was a heavy beam set with iron spikes, laid across a breach to stop the enemy, recorded in 1554.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia quae dicuntur super natura feminarum has the form riço.^[2][10]
• 14th century – The vernacular Bible uses riccio for the hedgehog.^[2]
• About 1350 – The vernacular Crescenzi uses it for the chestnut husk.^[2]
• 1554 – Francesco Baldelli uses it for a spiked beam set against the enemy.^[2]
• Before 1577 – Pietro Andrea Mattioli compares the sea urchin to chestnut husks.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hedgehog, a small nocturnal insect-eating mammal whose back is covered in spines and which rolls into a ball to defend itself, especially Erinaceus europaeus.^[4][5][12]
2. (figurative) A shy, withdrawn or prickly person: chiudersi a riccio, to become defensive and uncommunicative.^[4][5][6]
3. A sea urchin, riccio di mare: an edible marine animal with a round shell covered in spines.^[4][5][12]
4. The spiny husk of the chestnut.^[4][5][12]
5. (history) A beam set with iron spikes used to block a breach against the enemy.^[4][5][12]
6. (textiles) A spiked cylinder in wool-combing machines.^[4]

Word family

• riccio di mare