Etymologically
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bucca

Etymology and origin of the Latin word bucca

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Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
Plautus

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈbʊk.ka][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈbuk.ka][1]

Forms

bucca f (genitive buccae); first declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2][1] The Oxford Latin Dictionary, Georges and the Thesaurus call it imitative.[3][4][5] Ernout and Meillet suspected a Celtic origin, because it resembles beccus “beak” and Celtic personal names.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it.[2][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

It was the cheek puffed out in speaking or eating, and in the plural the jaws.[3][7] The sense “mouth” is later, from Pomponius on, and was at first derogatory.[2] Cicero writes whatever comes to his mouth (quidquid in buccam), and it meant a mouthful, any cavity, as in the knee joint, and a word in a children's game in Petronius.[3][8]

In medieval Latin it was also an entrance and a river mouth.[9] Proto-Romance */ˈbʊkk-a/ “cheek, mouth” is continued in all Romance languages.[10] It survives as Italian bocca, French bouche, Spanish boca and Romanian bucă.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses quidquid in buccam venit.[8][6]
  • 1813 – English buccal “of the cheek” is recorded.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The (puffed) cheek; in the plural, the jaws.[3][7]
  2. The mouth.[3][2]
  3. A mouthful.[3]
  4. A cavity.[3][1]
  5. (Medieval Latin) An entrance; a river mouth.[9]

Word family

  • buccea
  • buccella
  • buccō
  • buccula
  • bucculentus
  • būccina
  • saccibuccis
  • ōs
  • English buccal

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  11. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Bucca.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/bucca. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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