perca Italian · revision 37517

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=15th century|origins=grc πέρκη}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈpɛr.ka/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''perca''' ''f'' (plural perche)^(Wiktionary)

+ The old plural is ''perce'', found in the 15th-century translations of Pliny by Giovanni Brancati and Cristoforo Landino.^(GDLI)

+ Tommaseo–Bellini also records the form ''perchia''.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) Körting gives [[nap|perchia]] for Naples.^(Körting 1907)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la|perca|t=perch]], which Latin took from [[grc|πέρκη|tr=pérkē|t=perch]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|2845)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012) Devoto–Oli, GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti take it more precisely from the scientific Latin genus name “Perca”, itself the classical word.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ The Latin word lived on in [[fr|perche]], recorded from the 13th century, and in Venetian dialect names of other fishes, such as eastern Venetian [[m|vec|pèrega]] for the comber and Venetian [[m|vec|sperga]] for a wrasse.^(DEI|2845)^(REW 1935) Meyer-Lübke adds Tuscan ⟨perca⟩, a southern French form and [[pt|perca]].^(REW 1935) The Latin word was also borrowed as [[sh|pierka]].^(DEI|2845)

+

+ Nocentini connects the Greek name with [[m|grc|περκνός|tr=perknós|t=dark, livid]], from the same root,^(Nocentini 2010) and Wiktionary traces it to [[ine-pro|*perḱ-|t=spotted, speckled]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Nocentini, GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti date the word to the 15th century;^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) GDLI's earliest examples are in the Pliny translations of Brancati and Landino, which list “le perce” among the fishes that live among rocks.^(GDLI) DEI's first record is in Alessandro Citolini, in the 16th century.^(DEI|2845)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Citolini's ''Tipocosmia'' counts the ''perca'' among the flat fishes, and the Italian translation of the ''Spectacle de la nature'' describes it as a river fish a foot or a foot and a half long, whose scales stick so firmly to the flesh that cooks have trouble removing them.^(GDLI)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) Tommaseo–Bellini marks the word as obsolete and refers to ''persico'', the everyday name of the fish.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ In modern Italian ''perca'' is a term of zoology, the name of the genus of the European perch and the American yellow perch, while the fish itself is usually called ''pesce persico''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 15th century – The Pliny translations of Brancati and Landino use the plural ''perce''.^(GDLI)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 16th century – Alessandro Citolini lists the ''perca'' among the fishes.^(DEI|2845)^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(zoology)'' [[m|en|perch]], a freshwater fish of the genus ''Perca'', especially the European perch.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(zoology, capitalized)'' The genus of the family Percidae that includes the European perch and the American yellow perch.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[percide]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[persico]]

+ * [[la|perca]]

+ * [[fr|perche]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ An Old Italian ''perca'' meaning “pole” is a shortened form of ''pertica'', influenced by French ''perche'': a poem in GDLI compares the lover to a hawk set on a ''perca''.^(GDLI) In central Sardinian and Logudorese ''pèrca'' means a cave or a crack between rocks;^(Cortelazzo & Marcato 1998) Cortelazzo and Marcato derive it from Latin ''*specula'', a diminutive of ''specus'' “cave”.^(Cortelazzo & Marcato 1998)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}