veccia

Forms

veccia f (plural vecce)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vicia (“vetch”).^[2][3][4][1] The form Medieval Latin vecia appears at Parma as early as 854, and vezza is recorded at Faenza in 1414.^[2][5] Devoto points to the regular doubling of the consonant before /j/, in Vulgar Latin *vicja.^[6]

The same word is French vesce, Occitan vesa and Catalan vessa, from which Spanish veza was borrowed.^[3][5][7] It is well represented in the Italian dialects.^[5] The Latin word also passed into Celtic, as Welsh gwyg, and into Germanic, as Old High German wicka, the source of German Wicke.^[5][3]

DELI and Nocentini find no cognates for the Latin word.^[2][3] Wiktionary takes it from Proto-Italic *wikiā, probably from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to bend”), like vinciō (“to bind”), or from Proto-Indo-European *weh₁y- (“to turn, wind”).^[1] The Oxford Latin Dictionary compares Latvian and Sanskrit words and, more doubtfully, the verb for “to bind”.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first Italian record is Zucchero Bencivenni in 1310, for the fodder plant with pinnate leaves ending in a tendril, violet flowers and pods.^[2] GRADIT dates the word before 1320, and DEI cites the Italian translation of Palladius, which says vetch is sown at the end of the month to gather its seed.^[4][5][9]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word named both the plant and its small round seeds, which were sold by the bushel: a Florentine account book records money owed for vetch sold, and a text quoted by Tommaseo gives the price of beans and vecce.^[9][10] The seed was used to feed farm animals and poultry and was once also ground into flour for bread.^[4][9]

Botanists use the name for the genus Vicia, and in regional usage it also covers wild legumes of the genera Lathyrus and Lotus.^[11][1] Derivatives include veccione, a wild vetch (1625) and, in the plural, large shot for a gun, veccioso (16th century, Davanzati), vecciarino (1891) and svecciare “to clean grain of vetch” (1960).^[5][3]

Timeline

• 854 – Medieval Latin vecia is recorded at Parma.^[2]
• 1310 – Zucchero Bencivenni uses veccia.^[2]
• 1414 – vezza is recorded at Faenza.^[5]
• 1625 – veccione “wild vetch” is recorded.^[5]
• 1891 – vecciarino is first recorded.^[3]
• 1960 – svecciare is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) vetch, Vicia sativa, a legume with red-purple flowers and round dark seeds, grown as fodder and once also for bread flour.^[4][12][13]
2. (botany) Any plant of the genus Vicia; regionally also wild legumes of the genera Lathyrus and Lotus: veccia lustra, veccia della Guinea.^[11][14][1]
3. The seed of the plant.^[4][15]

Word family

• veccione
• vecciarino
• svecciare
• vecciato
• veccioso

Related words

• Latin vicia
• French vesce

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3997
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 692
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli