tocco

tocco¹ touch

Pronunciation

• /ˈtok.ko/^[1]

Forms

tocco m (plural tocchi)^[1] As an adjective: tocco (feminine tocca, plural tocchi, tocche).^[1]

Etymology

The touch is formed from toccare (“to touch”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The noun is a deverbal derivative, like French touche from toucher, which DEI dates to the 13th century.^[6][1] The adjective is the short past participle of the verb, without the ending of the full participle.^[3][5][7][8]

Meyer-Lübke traces the verb, with French toucher and Spanish tocar, to an imitative word for a knock, also seen in French toc; he lists the Italian adjective, Lombard tok “simple-minded”, also “worm-eaten” of fruit in Milan, among its derivatives.^[9][10] DEI also treats the stroke of a bell as imitative, and compares the sense “a bit mad” with French toqué (1836).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dante (1313–1319) is DELI's first record for the participle tocco “touched”.^[2] DEI dates the noun, “the act of touching”, to the 14th century, with the translation of Palladius;^[6][4] GRADIT dates it to about 1340.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century Matteo Villani uses the noun for a stroke of the clapper of a bell;^[6] Medieval Latin tribus tocchis “with three strokes” is recorded in 1366.^[6] From the strokes of the clock comes the Tuscan il tocco, one o'clock in the afternoon.^[4][11][6] Later senses are a hint or nod (17th century), a sound (16th century), the way of handling paint in art (Baldinucci, 17th century) and the way of playing an instrument in music (Algarotti, 18th century).^[6] In Florence from the 15th to the 18th century the tocco was also the demand for payment made to debtors by officials who touched them with a rod.^[4] A tocco became an apoplectic fit in 1879.^[6]

The adjective tocco “a little mad” and of fruit “bruised” is dated by DELI only to 1961, though Nocentini gives the 14th century.^[2][3][7]

Timeline

• 1313–1319 – Dante uses tocco “touched”.^[2]
• c. 1340 – GRADIT's date for the noun.^[4]
• 14th century – Matteo Villani uses tocco for a stroke of a bell.^[6]
• 1366 – Medieval Latin tocchis (strokes of a bell) is recorded at Montalboddo.^[6]
• 18th century – Algarotti uses the musical sense.^[6]
• 1879 – Tocco is recorded for an apoplectic fit.^[6]
• 1961 – The adjective is recorded for a person “a bit mad”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A touch: a light, brief contact or pressure: Con un tocco del dito accese lo schermo.^[4][5][7]
2. A finishing touch: gli ultimi tocchi to a piece of work.^[5][7][11]
3. A knock or blow struck on something: Sentimmo tre tocchi alla finestra.^[4][5][12]
4. The stroke of a bell or public clock, (Tuscany) il tocco, one o'clock in the afternoon.^[4][5][11]
5. (music) A player's touch on a keyboard or string instrument.^[4][5][12]
6. (art) The way an artist handles the pencil or brush; a short brushstroke, (figurative) a person's characteristic style.^[4][5][11]
7. (sport) A light touch of the ball; a player's way of striking it.^[7][12]
8. (colloquial) An apoplectic stroke.^[4][12][11]

Adjective

1. (colloquial) A little mad, touched: Quel tuo vicino è un po' tocco.^[5][7][12]
2. (uncommon) Of fruit, bruised or partly spoiled.^[5][7][12]
3. (literary) Touched, moved, as a past participle of toccare.^[5][11]

tocco² chunk

Pronunciation

• /ˈtɔk.ko/^[1]

Forms

tocco m (plural tocchi)^[1]

Etymology

The chunk is of uncertain origin.^[4][6][2] DELI calls it unknown and notes that the FEW simply refers it to toccare without accounting for the open /ɔ/ beside the close /o/ of the word for “touch”.^[2] Nocentini accepts the derivation from the verb, in the sense of a piece knocked off with a blow, and compares Romanian toca (“to chop meat”); he explains the open vowel as a non-Tuscan pronunciation that spread because it kept “piece” apart from “stroke of a bell”.^[3] GDLI also mentions a link with tocca.^[13] Zaccaria sees the word as a doublet of that noun, which meant “cloth”.^[14] Wiktionary instead suggests Latin tucca (“a meat preserve in lard”).^[1]

The northern dialects have the word too: Romagnol tòc and Venetian tòco “piece” (of meat or cheese), and Medieval Latin tocho terre “a piece of land” at Verona in 1329.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Francesco Redi (before 1698), for a fairly large piece broken off something.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Vasari already compares two lonely figures in a painting to two pieces of eel in a pan, and Tassoni explains that in Lombardy tocchi are the leftover pieces of bread called tozzi elsewhere.^[13] Tommaseo records insults such as tocco d'asino.^[6] With a following noun the word describes a sturdy young man or a very attractive young woman (un tocco di ragazza).^[4]

Timeline

• 1329 – Medieval Latin tocho terre is recorded at Verona.^[6]
• Before 1698 – Francesco Redi uses tocco “piece”.^[2]
• 1879 – The diminutives tocchetto and tocchettino are recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large piece, a chunk of something, especially food: un tocco di formaggio.^[4][1]
2. (colloquial) Followed by a noun: a big, strong man, or a very attractive woman; also in insults.^[4]

Word family

• tocchetto