sciocco

Forms

sciocco (feminine sciocca, masculine plural sciocchi, feminine plural sciocche, superlative sciocchissimo)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][3] The usual explanation is a inherited from Vulgar Latin *exsuccus (“without juice”), beside Late Latin exsūcus, from ex- and sūcus (“juice”).^[4][5][6] The Latin adjective is used by Quintilian of a dry, lifeless orator.^[6] Nocentini and Devoto explain the unexpected open /ɔ/ from Latin short /u/ by alignment with words in ⟨-occo⟩.^[4][7] Nocentini, following Giacomelli and Poggi Salani, finds the decisive argument in the sense “unsalted, tasteless”, attested from the first Tuscan writers of the 14th century and still alive in Tuscan dialects, so that “stupid” would be a metaphor from it.^[4][8]

Meyer-Lübke doubted this etymology because of the vowel.^[2][9] Ugo Vignuzzi, reviewing the question in 1977, argued that the order of the two senses is not proven, and that a path from the sense “shaken, battered” to “touched in the head” and “stupid” is a serious possibility, as the participle of a verb scioccare “to shake”.^[2][8][9] DELI adds that this participle is itself barely attested and of unclear origin, and that Lurati compares the word with ciocco “log”, as one calls a fool a block of wood.^[2]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *souḱ-o- (“juice”), although Schrijver takes the words for “suck” and “juice” as borrowed from a substrate language.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun “foolish person” is in Bono Giamboni, who died before 1292, and the adjective “lacking judgement” in Dante (1310–1313).^[2] The sense “without salt” is first recorded in the Italian translation of Pietro de' Crescenzi, around 1350.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In 14th-century Florence the two senses lived side by side: Franco Sacchetti tells of a husband who tastes the sciocca vivanda, the unsalted dish, and starts to grumble, while Boccaccio speaks of sciocche anime, inexperienced souls.^[9][3] Old uses now lost include “vain, ineffective”, as in Ariosto.^[3][11]

Outside Tuscany only the sense “stupid” spread, and the dialects kept their own words for “unsalted”.^[4] In standard Italian the food sense is now marked as Tuscan.^[5][11] The noun sciocchezza is in Boccaccio (1353) for foolishness, and later for a foolish act or word (end of the 14th century) and for a trifle (1922).^[2]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses sciocco “fool”.^[2]
• 1310–1313 – Dante uses the adjective.^[2]
• c. 1350 – The translation of Crescenzi uses sciocco “unsalted”.^[2]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses sciocchezza.^[2]
• Late 14th century – Sciocchezza “foolish act or word” in Mannelli's chronicle.^[2]
• 1922 – Sciocchezza “trifle” is recorded by Zingarelli.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. foolish, silly: lacking intelligence, judgement or shrewdness: Sono stato sciocco a credergli.^[3][5][12]
2. Showing a lack of intelligence: una domanda sciocca.^[5][12][13]
3. Trivial, of little importance: un litigio per un motivo sciocco.^[5][13][14]
4. (Tuscan) Unsalted or not salty enough, insipid: Questo brodo è sciocco.^[5][12][11]
5. (archaic) Vain, ineffective; also inexperienced.^[3][5][12]

Noun

1. A fool, a silly person, non è uno sciocco, he knows what he is doing.^[5][11][13]

Word family

• sciocchezza
• scioccaggine
• scioccamente
• scioccheria
• sciocchino
• scioccherello
• scioccone

Related words

• succo
• sugo
• Latin exsucus
• Latin sucus

Usage notes

Battaglia lists two minor homographs: sciocco “dishevelled”, used by Marino of hair and connected with sciocchiare, and an old sciocco, a coin of Bohemia and Moravia, of unknown origin.^[9] In Tuscany sciocco is the ordinary word for food without salt.^[8][12]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET
9. ^ 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
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli