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cicer

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word cicer

Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɪ.kɛr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈt͡ʃiː.t͡ʃer][1]

Forms

cicer n (genitive ciceris); third declension[1]

Etymology

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *kiker- and compares Old Armenian սիսեռն (siseṙn, “chickpea”), Albanian thjer (“lentil”) and Ancient Greek κίκερροι (kíkerroi, “pale”), a gloss in Hesychius.[2][3] The Latin and Albanian forms might come from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₃- (“to feed”), as Jokl proposed, but the Armenian word rather points with Latin to a loan from an unknown source.[2] Wiktionary calls it a wandering word of unknown origin.[1] De Vaan rejects a link with Ancient Greek κριός (kriós, “ram; a kind of chickpea”), named after the curve of its pod.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first,[2][4] in the Bacchides.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is the chickpea, a common food.[3] Varro says the word is used only in the singular.[3][5] Lewis & Short also cite it from Horace, Persius, Petronius, Columella and Pliny the Elder.[5] Juvenal uses it, apparently in an obscene sense, of the testicles or the penis.[3] It lived on in Old French as chiche, which gave English chich, later chickpea.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has the word.[5][2][4]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro notes that it has no plural.[3][5][4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace has the word.[5][4]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal, in an obscene sense.[3][4]
  • late 14th century – English chich, through Old French.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The chickpea, Cicer arietinum.[3][5][1]
  2. (obscene) The testicles, or perhaps the penis.[3][1]

Word family

  • cicera
  • cicerculum
  • cicercula
  • Cicerō
  • English chickpea

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Cicer.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/cicer. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·