succo

Forms

succo m (plural succhi)^[1] The older and literary form is suco.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Late Latin succus, a variant of Latin sūcus (“juice”).^[4][5][6][1] The classical form gave sugo, its inherited doublet, which Meyer-Lübke takes as a northern Italian form.^[5][1][7] The Latin word gave Romanian suc, Occitan suc, Catalan suc and Spanish jugo.^[7]

It continues Proto-Italic *soukos and is probably connected with sūgō (“to suck”).^[8][4][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *souḱ-o- (“juice”), with cognates such as súga and sūgan “to suck”, but notes Schrijver's view that the variation between ⟨k⟩ and ⟨g⟩ in the root points to a loan from a substrate language.^[8] Devoto doubts any reliable connection.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates succo from 1735, in the fourth Crusca dictionary under succhio, with the sense “liquid pressed from vegetables and fruit”: the 14th-century example in Tommaseo is read suco in modern critical editions.^[4] Zingarelli and DEI date it from the 14th century, and the GDLI quotes Cavalca's succhi d'erbe, herb juices.^[10][3][2]

Semantic evolution

In older use succo was mostly the juice of pressed herbs and roots, often as a medicine, as in Ariosto's healing with succo d'erbe.^[2] The sense “gist, substance” is recorded in 1873, and it is also used for glandular secretions, as in succo gastrico.^[4][11]

Tommaseo noted that sugo was the commoner word.^[12] Today succo di frutta is the fruit juice drink.^[13][10] The derivative succoso “juicy” is recorded in 1673 in Segneri, and succulento in 1829.^[4]

Timeline

• 1673 – Segneri uses succoso.^[4]
• 1735 – The fourth Crusca dictionary records succo.^[4]
• 1829 – Succolento is recorded, and succulento in 1838.^[4]
• 1873 – Tommaseo records the figurative sense “substance”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. juice, the liquid in plants and especially fruit, or pressed out of them: un bicchiere di succo d'ananas.^[6][13][11]
2. (physiology) A liquid secreted by glands or found in hollow organs of digestion: succo gastrico, succo pancreatico.^[6][13][11]
3. (chemistry) A liquid extracted from natural products.^[6][14]
4. (biology) In succo cellulare and succo nucleare, the fluid in plant cell vacuoles or in the cell nucleus.^[13][10]
5. (figurative) The gist, the essential content: il succo della lettera.^[6][13][11]

Word family

• succoso
• succulento
• succosità
• succulenza

Related words

• sugo
• succhiare
• suggere
• Latin sucus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3671
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)