uccello

Forms

uccello m (plural uccelli)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian ucello, Old Italian uciello, Old Italian ugello and Old Italian auscello, and northern Old Italian osello, Old Italian oxelo and Old Italian olcello.^[2][3][4] The Venetian form is osèlo.^[4] An old feminine uccella is also recorded.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin aucellus (“little bird”), a word of the glossaries, formed as a masculine beside the older aucella, which Varro already has; the feminine is a contraction of avicella, a diminutive of avicula, itself a diminutive of avis (“bird”).^[7][5][8][1] The LEI suggests that the masculine may have been formed on the model of passer (“sparrow”).^[2] The double /tʃ/ and the reduction of the first syllable to ⟨u-⟩ are discussed by Devoto.^[9] The poetic doublet augello has its /dʒ/ from Old Occitan auzel.^[7][1]

The same diminutive gave French oiseau, Occitan auzel, Catalan ocell, Friulian ucièl and Romansh utschi, while Spanish ave and Portuguese ave keep the simple Latin word, and Spanish uses pájaro, from passer.^{[10][11][2][12]}

Latin ⟨avis⟩ goes back to Proto-Italic *awis and Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwis (“bird”), with cognates in Sanskrit वि (ví, “bird”), Ancient Greek αἰετός (aietós, “eagle”) and Old Armenian հաւ (haw, “bird”).^[13][1][10] Italian uovo “egg” may belong to the same root.^[13][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The LEI's earliest record is Bono Giamboni's Della miseria dell'uomo (1292), and DELI's is Dante's Vita nuova (1293–1294), with the general sense “bird”.^[2][7][8] DEI cites Rustico Filippi, of the 13th century, for the form ucello.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Like many writers of the 13th and 14th centuries, Dante used both uccello and the Occitan-tinged augello.^[7] The derivatives uccellare “to catch birds” and uccellatore “bird-catcher” appear in the 13th century, and, from Boccaccio on uccellare also meant “to make a fool of someone”, the image being taken from the tricks used to snare birds.^[7][10]

The sense “penis” is in Pietro Aretino in 1536, and already in a 14th-century medical text;^[7][5] DELI thinks it most likely came from nursery language, and DEI notes the derived sense “simpleton”.^[7][5] Many set phrases are built on the word: uccel di bosco “someone who has fled, a fugitive”, uccello del malaugurio “bird of ill omen; a doom-monger”, and a volo d'uccello “from above; summarily”.^[14][15][16] Uccello lira translates the Australian English lyrebird.^[7]

Timeline

• 13th century – Rustico Filippi has the form ucello.^[5]
• 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses uccello.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Uccelletto and uccellatore are recorded in Brunetto Latini.^[7]
• 1293–1294 – Dante uses the word in the Vita nuova.^[7][8]
• 1313–1319 – Dante has uccellino.^[7]
• 1536 – Pietro Aretino uses it for “penis”.^[7]
• Before 1574 – Uccelliera “aviary” is recorded in Vasari.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. bird: a feathered animal with wings, usually able to fly, and a horny beak: Sul davanzale si posano ogni mattina due uccelli.^[8][14][17]
2. (zoology, in the plural, capitalised) Uccelli, the class Aves of vertebrates.^[8][14]
3. (vulgar) The penis.^[8][17][15]
4. (dated) A simpleton, a fool.^[8][15][16]

Word family

• uccellino
• uccelletto
• uccellaccio
• uccellare
• uccellatore
• uccellagione
• uccelliera
• uccellaio
• uccellanda

Related words

• augello
• uovo
• aviazione
• Latin avis
• French oiseau

Usage notes

Essere libero come un uccello means to have no ties, and stare come l'uccello sulla frasca to be always ready to leave.^[8][18] The proverb meglio uccel di bosco che uccel di gabbia says that freedom is better than captivity.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 2162
3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1025
5. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3941
6. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
7. ^ 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
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b c 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 c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
18. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli