tacco

Forms

tacco m (plural tacchi)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian taccone (“patch; heel”), by back-formation: the older word, recorded from the 15th century, was a piece of sole used to mend a broken shoe.^{[2][3][4][1][5]}

The base noun is of disputed origin.^[2][6] DELI calls it unknown, and Prati thought it very doubtful.^[2][7] Nocentini takes it from Old French tacon (“patch; heel”), and that from Frankish *takko (“point, tooth, prong”), related to Middle Dutch tacke, Middle High German zacke and German Zacken.^[6] From French also came Spanish tacón and Spanish taco, Portuguese tacão and Portuguese taco.^[6] The word spread from northern France with the basic sense of a piece added for support or repair, hence both “patch” and “heel”.^[6]

Devoto saw the word instead as a masculine form of tacca (“notch”), specialised for shoes, and Zingarelli and Gabrielli also lean to that word.^[8][9][10] Meyer-Lübke put both under Gothic *taikka, with the back-formation also in Friulian tak (“heel”).^[11] The GDLI prefers the back-formation from the base noun to a masculine of the notch word.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in G. Gigli, before 1722, for the raised part under the heel of a shoe.^[2][5] Nocentini dates the word to 1674 and Zingarelli to 1585.^[6][9] Purists resisted it: in 1831 Lissoni called it a gross offence against the language to use it instead of calcagnino.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the shoe the word passed to a wedge that holds something raised or still (1840), and in printing to the strip of paper used in taccheggio (1865).^[2] DEI dates the printing and nautical senses from D'Alberti, 1805.^[5] In the artillery of the 18th and early 19th centuries a tacco was a turned wooden block between the charge and the ball.^[3][4]

Battere il tacco meant to run off (Tuscan, 1865), with Piacenza bat al tac in 1836; in a Tuscan folk song it is to pace up and down under a sweetheart's window.^[5][13] Tacchettare, to walk clicking one's heels, is recorded in 1870, tacchettio in 1942, and tacchetto, a slender high heel and the studs of football boots, in 1960.^[2][6] Modern football has the colpo di tacco, a back-heel.^[14][9]

Timeline

• Before 1722 – G. Gigli uses tacco for the heel of a shoe.^[2]
• 1805 – Soprattacco is recorded, and D'Alberti has the printing and nautical senses.^[6][5]
• 1831 – Lissoni condemns the word in favour of calcagnino.^[2]
• 1840 – The sense “wedge” is recorded.^[2]
• 1865 – The printing strip is recorded (Manuzzi).^[2]
• 1870 – Tacchettare is recorded.^[2][6]
• 1942 – Tacchettio appears in the Zingarelli dictionary.^[2]
• 1960 – Tacchetto is recorded for a slender heel and for boot studs.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. heel: the raised part under the back of a shoe's sole, beneath the heel of the foot: Si è rotta il tacco della scarpa sinistra.^[3][14][15]
2. A wedge of wood or metal placed under an object to hold it still or raised; a chock under an aircraft's wheel.^[3][14][9]
3. (nautical) A large squared block of wood used as a support in shipyards; the block in a pulley that keeps the rope in place.^[3][4]
4. (printing) A thin strip of paper used in taccheggio.^[3][14]
5. (historical, artillery) A turned wooden block placed between the charge and the projectile.^[3][15]
6. A coin purse shaped like the heel of a shoe.^[3]

Word family

• tacchetto
• tacchettare
• tacchettio
• soprattacco

Related words

• taccone
• tacca
• Old French tacon
• Spanish tacón

Usage notes

Common phrases: tacco a spillo, a stiletto heel;^[9][4][14] alzare or battere i tacchi, to clear off;^[9][4][14] battere i tacchi also means to salute by clicking the heels.^[9][4][14] In rural Tuscany tacco was also the turkey, from the bird's call.^[5][13][11] In Sicilian tacco is a billiard cue, from Spanish taco.^[16] Slang tacco was a coin of five lire.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3694
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 968
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET