zucca

Forms

zucca f (plural zucche, diminutive zucchétta or zucchettìna or zucchétto m or zucchettìno m or zucchìna or zucchìno m, augmentative zuccóna or zuccóne m, pejorative zuccàccia (“pumpkin, squash, head”))^[1] Old Italian spellings include zuca, zucha, çuca and çucha.^[2]

Etymology

In the usual explanation it is inherited from Late Latin cucutia, the name of a fruit in the 6th-century medical writer Plinius Valerianus, through a form with the syllables swapped, *(co)zucca.^[3][4][5][1] The first syllable was dropped, as in many dialects, and the rest was reversed.^[4][6] Forms without the metathesis are Piedmontese cusa, Friulian coce and Corsican cozza, as in Rome and the Abruzzi, and the full form is southern cocuzza.^[6][4][7] The sense “head” is also found in Piedmontese, Friulian and Old French.^[6][7] Nocentini thinks the traditional etymology the most likely, the metathesis being its only difficulty.^[4]

Because of that difficulty Alessio proposed a spoken *tūcca, from a Mediterranean base *tucu-, *zucco- “hill, height”, comparing Occitan tüco “pumpkin; head” of Languedoc.^[3][8] Devoto took the Late Latin word to be of Mediterranean origin, loosely connected with cucurbita (“gourd”);^[9] de Vaan calls the latter probably a loanword and compares cucumis (“cucumber”).^[10] Meyer-Lübke noted that the length of the Latin vowel is unknown.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Splanamento of Patecchio of Cremona, from the early 13th century, with the sense of the plant.^[2][4] DELI's first record is a 1287 register of the Servite convent of the Santissima Annunziata in Florence.^[3][11] A Tuscan place name Zucaia is recorded as early as 1028.^[12][6]

Semantic evolution

The joking sense “head” is in Dante (1300–1313); the Ottimo commentary took it as a Lucchese word, since in Lucca the head was mockingly called zucca.^[3] The fruit sense is recorded separately from 1564.^[3] Old Italian already had the phrases avere sale in zucca “to have sense” and zucca vuota and zucca al vento for a senseless person.^[2] The dried and hollowed fruit served as a flask and as a float for learning to swim: Franco Sacchetti wrote of a zucca da notare.^[13][12]

Prati notes that the bottle gourd was the old European kind, and the other gourds came from America.^[12] Derivatives grew around both senses: candied zuccata (1344), zuccone “big head, blockhead” (16th century), zucchetto the skullcap (1608), zucchino and zucchina “courgette” (1842 and 1879), and zuccotto, the dessert, in 1960.^[3][4] German had the word in 1472–1473 for the head, and English zucca is recorded in 1818.^[11]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Patecchio of Cremona uses zucca.^[2][4]
• 1287 – A register of the Santissima Annunziata in Florence names the plant.^[3]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses zucca for the head.^[3]
• 1344 – Zuchata “candied pumpkin” is recorded.^[3]
• 1472–1473 – German in der zucken “in the head” is recorded.^[11]
• 1564 – Venuti uses zucca for the fruit.^[3]
• 1608 – Croce uses zucchetto for a skullcap.^[3]
• 1818 – English zucca is first recorded.^[11]
• 1879 – Zucchina is recorded.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. pumpkin, squash: the vegetable with sweetish yellow floury flesh, cooked in many ways: una vellutata di zucca.^[5][14][15]
2. (botany) The plant that bears it (Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita pepo), with trailing or climbing stems, large rough leaves and yellow flowers; also any plant of the genus Cucurbita.^[5][14][16]
3. The dried and hollowed fruit, used as a container or float.^[17][13]
4. A tasteless fruit or vegetable.^[5][14]
5. (humorous) The head: si è grattato la zucca.^[5][16][15]
6. (figurative) A stubborn or slow-witted person.^[5][14]

Word family

• zucchina
• zucchino
• zucchetta
• zucchetto
• zuccone
• zucconaggine
• zuccata
• zuccotto
• zuccaia
• inzuccare

Related words

• cocuzza
• Latin cucurbita

Usage notes

Non avere sale in zucca means to lack good sense, avere la zucca vuota to be empty-headed, and zucca pelata is a bald head.^[16][14][18] Fiori di zucca are courgette or pumpkin flowers fried in batter, and semi di zucca are roasted salted seeds.^[16][14] Wiktionary gives both /ˈd͡zuk.ka/ and /ˈt͡suk.ka/.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4122
7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 479
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
12. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1076
13. ^ a b 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 d e f 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
18. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana