vinco

Forms

vinco m (plural vinchi or (poetic) vinci)^[1] vinchio is a less common variant, and vénco is recorded in the 17th and 18th centuries.^[2][3] The plural is vinchi, in poetry also vinci.^[1][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vinculum (“bond, tie”) in its popular development: according to DELI the Latin word first gave vinchio, and the present form was drawn later from its plural vinchi.^[5][6] Wiktionary gives the same path, through Late Latin vinclum.^[1] DEI, followed by GRADIT and Nocentini, starts instead from Vulgar Latin *vincum, extracted from vinculum in Italy, perhaps with the influence of iuncus (“rush”).^[5][7][8][6] Nocentini explains the Vulgar Latin adjective as “pliant, fit for binding”, because willow twigs were used for tying, and finds it confirmed by vinca, the source of pervinca.^[8]

The popular outcomes of vinculum are this Tuscan form, Venetian véncio and southern vìnghio, the source of avvinghiare, all meaning “willow tie”; the learned doublet is vincolo.^[8][9][1] Outside Italy the word gave Catalan vincle (“fetter”) and Spanish brinco (“earring”).^[9]

Latin vinculum, older vinclum, is an instrument noun from vinciō (“to bind”) with the suffix -ulum.^[10][1] De Vaan derives the verb from Proto-Italic *wink- (“to tie”) and further Proto-Indo-European *ui-n-k-.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DEI dates the first record to 1296, at Perugia.^[3] DELI's first record is in Dante, before 1321, in the sense of an osier twig;^[5][7] GRADIT dates the figurative sense “bond” to before 1313.^[5][7] In one of his canzoni Dante describes the place where the sun takes the leaves from the osier: toglie a la terra del vinco la fronda.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the Tuscan translations of Palladius and Pietro de' Crescenzi use vinco both for the tree, planted like the willow and grafted on it, and for the twigs used to tie vines.^[12][3] In the Paradiso Dante uses the plural figuratively for the bonds of love: Che mi legasse con sì dolci vinci.^[12][4] The derivatives vinchéto, a damp place where osiers are grown, and vincàia appear in about 1350 and 1612.^[5]

In the 16th century Mattioli writes that the thinnest willows, used for baskets, are called venchi in Tuscany.^[6] Today the word is uncommon and mostly literary for the willow, as in D'Annunzio's frogs singing tra i vinchi, and the sense “bond” is archaic.^[13][4][14]

Timeline

• 1296 – The word is recorded at Perugia.^[3]
• Before 1313 – The figurative sense “bond” is recorded.^[7]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses vinco for an osier.^[5]
• c. 1340 – The Palladius translation has vinco “tie”.^[5]
• c. 1350 – Vinchéto appears in the Crescenzi translation.^[5]
• 1612 – Vincàia is recorded in the first Crusca dictionary.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) The osier (Salix viminalis), a willow growing by rivers, whose shoots are used for wickerwork and to tie vines; by extension, any willow.^[7][13][8]
2. A young pliant shoot of willow or another plant, a vimine: un cesto di vinchi.^[7][15][4]
3. (archaic, literary, figurative) A bond or tie, especially a moral one.^[7][13][15]

Word family

• vincheto
• vincaia
• vincastro

Related words

• vinciglio
• vinchio
• vincolo
• avvinghiare
• Latin vinculum

Usage notes

DELI separates vinco “bond” (c. 1340), from Vulgar Latin *vincum, as a homophone of the plant name.^[5] Tuscan has also a regional adjective vinco “soft, limp”, recorded from 1875: of bread that is underbaked, of wood that is unseasoned, and of meat that is stringy;^{[7][4][6][12]} GRADIT, Treccani and the GDLI derive it, perhaps, from Latin vincire “to bind”, and Tommaseo–Bellini gives it as the same as vincido.^{[7][4][6][12]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
3. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4058
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 h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 884
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ 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
14. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse