zoccolo

Forms

zoccolo m (plural zoccoli)^[1] Old forms include zòcolo and zuòcolo.^[2] Old Lombard had zòcul in the 13th century.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin socculus (“small light shoe”), the diminutive of soccus (“low light shoe, slipper”).^{[4][5][6][7][1]} Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti start from a Vulgar Latin form, *sŏccŭlus.^[8][9] Nocentini sees it instead as the diminutive of the older Old Italian zocco, a variant of socco with a strengthened initial sibilant.^[10]

The initial ⟨z⟩ (/ts/ or /dz/) is not the expected outcome of Latin /s/.^[4] On that ground DELI doubts the derivation from Latin.^[4] Following Crevatin, it suggests a blend with the base of ciocco “log, stump”.^[4][11] Meyer-Lübke thought the ⟨z⟩ might be dialectal, as in zufolo, or due to zanca.^[12] DEI notes that the Latin word was not of popular tradition, and DELI and Nocentini say it spread first through the language of the theatre.^[3][4][10]

Without the diminutive suffix the Latin word survives in Occitan soc, Catalan soc and Spanish zueco.^[10][12] Derivatives of the diminutive are Old French socle, zocle, French socque and Spanish zócalo (“plinth”).^[12] Latin passed the base word to Germanic: Old High German soc (modern Socke “sock”) and Old English socc (whence sock).^[10]

The Latin noun is from Ancient Greek σύκχος (súkkhos, “a kind of shoe”), probably of Phrygian or another Anatolian origin.^[1] The OLD compares συγχίς (sunkhís) and a gloss of Hesychius naming Phrygian shoes.^[13] Nocentini cites the same gloss but notes that the route by which the word reached Latin is not known.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Medieval Latin records of the word begin in 1135, and a Medieval Latin zoccolarius “clog-maker” is recorded at Venice in 1271.^[4] The first Italian record is in Boccaccio (1348–1353), for a shoe with a wooden sole and an upper mostly of straps.^[4][10] Tommaseo quotes his Dove gli uomini e le femmine vanno in zoccoli su pe' monti (“where men and women go about the mountains in clogs”).^[14]

Semantic evolution

The clog was the footwear of peasants, mountain people and some religious orders.^[5][8] From it came zoccolante, the Observant friar who wore clogs (1598, Florio).^[4][5] Figuratively a clumsy, worthless man was a zoccolo (before 1698, Redi), and a dictionary of 1961 records the sense “boor, ignoramus”.^[4]

In the 16th century the word passed to architecture: Giambullari used it for the base of a column (1549) and Vasari for the plinth on which columns rest (1550).^[4] It later named the foot of the walls in fortifications (1614), the darker or panelled band at the bottom of a room's walls, an animal's hoof and the clod of mud that sticks to shoes (all 1879, Tommaseo–Bellini), and the base of an electric lamp or valve (1961).^[4] Geology took it up for the rigid basement of a region, as in zoccolo continentale, and politics for the loyal core of a party's voters, the zoccolo duro.^[5][7][15]

The architectural sense travelled abroad: socle (1639) and English zoccolo (1664) and zocle (1704), later socle.^[16] Southern German had zocheln “clogs” from 1423, and Swiss German Zoccoli from 1876.^[16][3] Catalan, Occitan, Polish and Russian also borrowed it.^[1]

Timeline

• 1135 – Medieval Latin records of the word begin.^[4]
• 13th century – Old Lombard zòcul.^[3]
• 1271 – Medieval Latin zoccolarius “clog-maker” at Venice.^[4]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses zoccolo for a clog.^[4][10]
• 1423 – Southern German zocheln “clogs” is recorded.^[16]
• 1549 – Giambullari uses it for the base of a column.^[4]
• 1550 – Vasari uses it for a plinth.^[4]
• 1598 – Florio records zoccolante, the friar who wears clogs.^[4]
• 1614 – Pantera uses it for the foot of a fortress wall.^[4]
• 1639 – French socle is recorded.^[16]
• 1664 – English zocolo is recorded.^[16]
• Before 1698 – Redi uses it for a worthless man.^[4]
• 1879 – Tommaseo–Bellini records the hoof, the clod of mud and the band at the foot of a wall.^[4]
• 1961 – The base of a lamp and the sense “boor” are recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A clog: a shoe carved from one piece of wood, or one with a wooden sole and an upper of straps, once worn by peasants and some religious orders and now mainly in summer or at work: Si è messa gli zoccoli per andare in piscina.^[5][8][6][1]
2. (zoology) A hoof: the horny nail of the third toe of horses and other perissodactyls, or of the third and fourth toes of cattle and other artiodactyls.^[5][6][1]
3. A clod of mud or a layer of packed snow that sticks to the soles of shoes or under skis; the ball of earth left round the roots of a plant dug up for transplanting.^[5][17][6]
4. (cooking) A bed of polenta, rice or the like on which roast or stewed meat is served.^[5][6]
5. (architecture) A plinth or base of a building, monument, statue or column; the band at the foot of an interior wall, a battiscopa.^{[5][17][6][1]}
6. (geology) The rigid basement of a geological region.^[5][15]
7. (electricity) The base or socket of a lamp or electronic valve.^[4][1][18]
8. (figurative, uncommon) A coarse, ignorant person who is good for nothing.^[5][8][6]

Word family

• zoccolare
• zoccolaio
• zoccolante
• zoccolio
• zoccolata
• zoccolone
• zoccolatura
• zoccolino

Related words

• socco
• zocco
• ciocco
• Latin soccus
• French socle

Usage notes

Zoccolo duro is the loyal hard core of a group, especially of a party's voters.^[7][5] In Tuscany a frittata con gli zoccoli is an omelette with small cubes of ham or meat.^[7][17] In Catania zoccolo is also a name for slipper lobsters (Scyllaridae).^[6] The ⟨z⟩ is pronounced both /dz/ and /ts/.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 1086
3. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4118
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
9. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b c d e Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
17. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
18. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org