vescica

Forms

vescica f (plural vesciche)^[1] The older form is vessica, in Iacopone da Todi and Giamboni, and Old Italian also has vesica, vesiga and visciga.^[2][3][4] Dialect forms include Versilian bussiga, Triestine bisiga and Parmesan psiga.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin vessīca, a form recorded from Oribasius in the 5th or 6th century, for classical vēsīca (“bladder”) and its variant vēnsīca.^[2][6][7] DELI calls the doubled consonant expressive and compares cuppa beside cūpa.^[2] The DÉRom notes that the form with ⟨ss⟩ is rarely recorded from Celsus on, while the form with one ⟨s⟩ is the usual word throughout antiquity, and reconstructs a Proto-Romance form with a double ⟨s⟩.^[8] DEI suggests the influence of vissīre (“to fart softly”).^[7]

The ⟨sc⟩ /ʃ/ comes from the palatalisation of /ss/ before the stressed ⟨i⟩, and it spread to the learned derivatives vescicante and vescicola.^[2][9][10] The word is found across Romance: French vessie, Occitan vesiga, Catalan veixiga, Spanish vejiga, Portuguese bexiga, Sardinian buscicca and Romanian bășică.^[11][5]

De Vaan, following André, takes the form without ⟨n⟩ as the original; the one with ⟨n⟩ is only a spelling, since ⟨ēs⟩ and ⟨ēns⟩ merged in spoken Latin.^[12] André connects it with the verb for a soft fart and an onomatopoeic root, the sound of a bladder losing its air, as bladders were blown up for balloons, lanterns and bagpipes.^[12] Nocentini compares Old High German wanast (“belly of animals”), whence German Wanst, and a Sanskrit word for “bladder”, and Devoto linked the variant with ⟨n⟩ with venter (“belly”), with little support.^[11][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is vessica in Iacopone da Todi, before 1305, and vescica follows in Zucchero Bencivenni in 1310, as the hollow organ in which liquids collect, especially urine.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The sense “blister”, a swelling of the skin filled with fluid, appears about 1350 in the vernacular Pietro de' Crescenzi.^[2][7] The word was also used for a bubble of air (Sacchetti), a still for distilling (14th century) and a swelling on leaves (Redi).^[7][3] The pig's bladder, cleaned and dried for keeping lard, gave the figurative vescica gonfiata or piena di vento, a puffed-up person.^[13][14] An old phrase was vender vesciche, to tell idle stories: Machiavelli writes a me non venderà egli vesciche.^[14][13]

Vescica natatoria, the swim bladder of fish, is dated to 1829.^[2] From northern Italian, French took vessigon, a swelling on a horse's leg, in 1611.^[7]

Timeline

• Before 1305 – Iacopone da Todi uses vessica.^[2]
• 1310 – Zucchero Bencivenni uses vescica.^[2]
• About 1350 – The vernacular Crescenzi uses it for a blister.^[2]
• 1567–1696 – Vescicatorio appears in the Ricettario fiorentino.^[2]
• Before 1698 – Francesco Redi uses vescicante for a blistering drug.^[2]
• 1750 – Antonio Cocchi uses vescicola.^[2]
• 1829 – Vescica natatoria is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) A sac in which a secretion, liquid or gas collects; above all the urinary bladder: un'infezione della vescica.^{[6][14][9][1]}
2. The bladder of a pig, cleaned and dried, once used for storing lard.^[6][9][13]
3. (medicine) A blister: a bubble of fluid under the skin from a burn or rubbing: mi è venuta una vescica sul tallone.^[6][9][1]
4. (botany) A swelling or gall on a leaf or other part of a plant.^[6][9][15]
5. A bubble in glass or metal formed during working; pulica.^[6][9][15]
6. (obsolete) A balloon-shaped still; a coloured balloon.^[6][16]

Word family

• vescicante
• vescicatorio
• vescicola
• vescicolare
• vescicare
• vescicale
• svescicare
• vescichetta
• vescicone
• vescicoso

Related words

• vessica
• busecchia
• Latin vēsīca

Usage notes

Vescica natatoria is the swim bladder of fish and vescica biliare the gall bladder.^[16][13] Essere una vescica gonfiata is said of a vain and boastful person.^[13][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1050
4. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 809
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4036
8. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
9. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
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 Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli