sorcio

Forms

sorcio m (plural sorci)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian surci (plural), Old Italian sorco, Old Italian sorce and Old Italian sorgo.^[2][3][4] Central and regional forms include sorice and sorco.^[5][6][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sōrex (“shrew-mouse”), taken from the accusative and moved to another declension.^{[2][7][8][3][9]} Nocentini also cites the variant saurex.^[7]

The same word is Sardinian sórighe, Romanian șoarece, Dalmatian surko and Spanish sorce; French souris comes instead from a derivative, Vulgar Latin *soricium.^[7][10][11]

DELI and the GDLI consider the Latin word probably pre-Indo-European, and Devoto Mediterranean, like Ancient Greek ὕραξ (húrax, “shrew-mouse”).^[2][3][9] De Vaan also links the two and takes them as reflexes of a common loanword; the frequent connection with susurrus (“whisper, rustling”) fits the Greek word less well.^[12] Nocentini traces them to Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to make a sound”), so that the mouse would be “the squeaking animal”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the plural surci in Iacopone da Todi (before 1306), who hangs up a little basket che dai surci non sia offiso (“so that the mice may not harm it”).^[2][3] Dante has sorco (before 1321): Tra male gatte era venuto 'l sorco (“the mouse had come among wicked cats”).^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

The forms sorce (first half of the 14th century) and sorgo (Sacchetti, Andrea da Barberino) preceded sorcio, which is first found in San Bernardino of Siena (before 1444); an earlier example of sorcio in a translation of Seneca is suspect.^[2][3] Today the word is regional and colloquial beside the standard topo, and common in many dialects.^[13][8]

Sorci verdi, “green mice”, are animals that do not exist, like the mosca bianca, hence far vedere i sorci verdi.^[7] The feminine sorca (1957) is a sewer rat, and in Roman slang the vulva.^[7]

Timeline

• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses the plural surci.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses sorco.^[2]
• First half of the 14th century – Sorce appears in a translation of the deeds of Alexander the Great.^[2]
• Before 1444 – San Bernardino of Siena uses sorcio.^[2]
• 1957 – Sorca “sewer rat” is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (colloquial, regional) A mouse or rat: In soffitta abbiamo trovato le tracce di un sorcio.^{[8][14][6][13][1]}
2. (Rome, colloquial) Someone who knows every street, alley and shortcut of the city.^[1][15]

Word family

• sorca
• sorcino
• sorcetto

Related words

• topo
• zoccola
• Latin sōrex

Usage notes

Far vedere i sorci verdi a qualcuno means to astonish someone, or to put them in serious trouble or frighten them.^[5][16][13] Prendere qualcuno con il sorcio in bocca means to catch someone red-handed.^[14][13] A botanical sorcio, the tree heath (scopa di macchia), has a separate source, Latin surculus.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 479
4. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 416
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ 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
15. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli