mica Italian · revision 38173

+ {{homograph|1|crumb; not at all}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=12th century, Ritmo di Sant'Alessio (as an adverb)|origins=la mīca}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈmi.ka/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mica''' ''f'' (plural miche)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old and northern variants are [[roa-oit|miga]], used by Boccaccio, and [[roa-oit|micca]].^(DEI|2450)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011) Sabatini–Coletti explain the double consonant of the latter as a hypercorrection.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The crumb and the adverb are [[inh|la|mīca|t=crumb, grain]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary) DELI calls the noun a learned word.^(DELI 1999) The adverb grew out of negative phrases in which the noun meant “not a crumb”, and Petronius already writes of someone who for five days took not a crumb of bread.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|2450) The same use made the variant [[lmo|minga]] the ordinary negative there.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)

+

+ The noun is [[fr|mie]] and [[es|miga]], and as a reinforcement of the negative the word is also [[fro|mie]] and [[pro|miga]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(Körting 1907) It passed into [[eu|mika]] and into Berber.^(REW 1935)^(DEI|2450)

+

+ The Latin word, recorded from Cato, is traditionally connected with [[m|la|minor|t=smaller]] and [[grc|μικρός|tr=mikrós|t=small]], from [[ine-pro|*smeyg-|t=small, thin]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012) De Vaan, following Nyman, prefers [[itc-pro|*meikā]] from [[ine-pro|*meik-h₂-|t=blinking]], the root of [[m|la|micō|t=to flash, quiver]], since the word first meant a grain of salt and then any glittering particle.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The adverb is the older record: it appears in the 12th-century ''Ritmo di Sant'Alessio'' with the sense “not at all”.^(DELI 1999)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The noun, a crumb or small grain, is found in the Urbino ''Laudi'' of about 1300 and in Jacopone da Todi before 1306.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the old and literary language the noun meant a crumb of bread or any tiny piece: Boccaccio, speaking to the Muses, says he has gathered “some crumbs fallen from your table” (''alcune miche da quella cadute'').^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(Zingarelli 2010) Tommaseo describes the adverb as a word that strengthens the negative, like French ''mie'', ''point'' and ''pas'', with examples from Boccaccio and Petrarch.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ In modern colloquial Italian ''mica'' follows the verb to strengthen ''non'', can stand alone as the negative before the verb, and means “by any chance” in questions.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) ''Mica male'' “not bad at all”, a litotes for a favourable judgement, was described by Panzini as a Milanese expression of familiar speech.^(DELI 1999)^(Treccani 2011) In Piedmont, Lombardy, Liguria and Emilia ''mica'' means a loaf, with the diminutive ''michetta'', from a spoken Latin form with a double consonant rather than from French ''miche''.^(Cortelazzo & Marcato 1998)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) The scientific diminutive ''micella'' was introduced in the 19th century, according to some dictionaries by the Swiss botanist Nägeli, and Italian ''micella'' “micelle” is recorded in 1917.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 12th century – The adverb appears in the ''Ritmo di Sant'Alessio''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * c. 1300 – The noun appears in the Urbino ''Laudi''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses the noun.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 18th century – ''Michetta'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1917 – ''Micella'' is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(archaic, literary)'' A [[m|en|crumb]] of bread.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(literary)'' A tiny piece of anything, a grain.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(Northern Italy)'' A small round bread roll.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # ''(colloquial)'' At all, in the least, strengthening a negative, usually after the verb: ''Non sono mica stanco.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' Not, standing alone before the verb or another word: ''Mica gliel'ho detto io!''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' By any chance, in questions and doubtful statements: ''Hai mica visto il mio telefono?''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # In ''mica tanto'', not much, not very.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[michetta]]

+ * [[micella]]

+ * [[miccino]]

+ * [[micolino]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|mica (mineral)}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1563, Michelangelo Florio|origins=la mīca}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈmi.ka/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mica''' ''f'' (plural miche)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The mineral is a learned word, [[bor|la|mīca|t=crumb, grain]], taken into mineralogy in the 16th century.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) Latin already used the noun for a flake of gold, in Lucretius and Vitruvius, and it was associated with [[m|la|micō|t=to flash, glitter]], since the cleavage flakes of the mineral shine like mother-of-pearl.^(DEI|2450)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The translation [[de|Glimmer]], used by Agricola, shows how 16th-century scholars understood it.^(DEI|2450) The same word is [[fr|mica]], [[es|mica]] and [[pt|mica]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|2450)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Michelangelo Florio, in 1563, describes a stone with white glinting sparks and says that the Latins call it ''mica'' or ''moglichetta'' and the German miners “cat silver”.^(DELI 1999)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Tommaseo describes it as a stone found in flexible, elastic flakes as shiny as glass, popularly called ''argento di gatto'' “cat silver”.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) The compound ''micascisto'' “mica schist” is recorded in 1817 as ''micaschisto'' and in 1875 in its modern form, and the adjective ''micaceo'' dates from the 19th century.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|2450)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1563 – Michelangelo Florio names the mineral ''mica''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1817 – ''Micaschisto'' is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1875 – ''Micascisto'' is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(mineralogy)'' [[m|en|mica]], any of a group of sheet silicates of aluminium and alkali metals that split into thin shining flakes and are used as electrical insulators.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[micascisto]]

+ * [[micaceo]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[micca]]

+ * [[la|mīca]]

+ * [[fr|mie]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}