cucutia

Forms

cucutia, cucutiae f (first declension); medieval also cocodia.^[1][2]

Etymology

According to Köbler it is a blend, from Latin cucurbita (“gourd”) + cutis (“skin”).^[3] The TLL points to its continuants in the Romance languages,^[4] and Conte derives Italian zucca (“gourd”) probably from it.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its only ancient example is in the medical compilation of Plinius Valerianus, in a list of foods that bind the bowels beside cucumbers and sorb apples; the TLL calls it an unknown plant,^[4] Georges and Gaffiot an unknown fruit.^[1][6]

Semantic evolution

In medieval glossaries it means a melon or gourd, glossed with an Old High German word.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An unknown fruit or plant.^[1][6][4]
2. (Medieval Latin) A gourd or melon.^[2][3]

Usage notes

Medieval charters from Catalonia have a separate cucucia or cucutia, meaning a wife's adultery, from Old Catalan cuguz.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
2. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis Cataloniae (1960–; online ed. 2025), Barcelona: CSIC / Institució Milà i Fontanals, gmlc.imf.csic.es