viticchio

Forms

viticchio m (plural viticchi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *viticulum, a masculine form of Latin vīticula (“little vine”), the diminutive of vītis (“vine”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Wiktionary instead takes it from Late Latin vītīc(u)la with a later change of gender.^[1] The Latin diminutive was itself used for climbing plants: Pliny has it in the sense of the Italian word, and Palladius for the clematis.^[7] Prati explains the name by the likeness between the plant and the vine, both of which twine round a support.^[8][9]

DEI compares French vrille (“tendril”) and Spanish vedija (“tuft; curl of hair”).^[7] For the origin of the Latin word for vine, see vite and vitalba.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the word to 1388.^[10] Buti's commentary on Dante uses it for a weed that twines round trees, and DEI and the dictionaries take that to be the bindweed.^[7][11][12]

Semantic evolution

The verb avviticchiare, to twine round, is already in Dante, so the diminutive was in use earlier than the noun's first record.^[8] The noun stayed regional: it names several twining plants, above all the bindweed, the clematis (vitalba) and the fiammola, in Tuscany, the Marche and Campania.^[11][5][3] In Pisa and Lucca it means a tendril, the same as standard viticcio, and it names the clematis in the Abruzzi and the Marche.^[7]

In 16th-century architecture Lomazzo used viticchio for the volute of a capital, an ornament shaped like a vine tendril; that sense is obsolete.^[7][11][12]

Timeline

• 1388 – first record of viticchio.^[10]
• Before 1406 – Buti uses the word for a twining weed.^[4][11]
• 1584 – Lomazzo uses it for an architectural volute.^[7]
• 18th century – Mariti uses it for the clematis.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional) Name of several twining plants, especially the hedge bindweed, the clematis and the fiammola.^{[4][2][3][5][1]}
2. (regional) A tendril, the same as viticcio.^[4][13][11]
3. (architecture, obsolete) An ornament shaped like a vine tendril; a volute.^[11][12]

Word family

• avviticchiare
• sviticchiare
• disviticchiare

Related words

• vite
• viticcio
• vitalba
• Latin viticula

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4072
8. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1059
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ 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, 936
12. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse