cancro Italian · revision 38791

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1282, Restoro d'Arezzo|origins=la cancer}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈkan.kro/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cancro''' ''m'' (plural cancri)^(Wiktionary)

+ The popular form is [[canchero]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Zingarelli 2010) Old Italian forms include [[m|roa-oit|cancer]], [[m|roa-oit|cancru]] and [[m|roa-oit|cranco]].^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|cancer|t=crab; the constellation Cancer; cancer]], a learned word.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The medical sense was already Latin: it is a semantic loan from the medicine of the Greeks, which named a malignant growth after the crab, [[grc|καρκίνος|tr=karkínos|t=crab; tumour]], because its branching veins recall a crab's legs.^(DELI 1999)^(LEI)^(Wiktionary) The popular form [[canchero]] is an adaptation of the same word, and [[granchio]] “crab” continues the later Latin forms [[la-lat|cancrus]] and [[la-lat|crancus]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(LEI)^(Wiktionary) The learned word has [[fr|cancer]], beside the popular [[fr|chancre]].^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ The Latin word is generally explained as a dissimilated form of an earlier [[itc-pro|*karkros|t=enclosure]], the source of [[la|carcer|t=prison]]; de Vaan suggests that the circle formed by a crab's pincers gave the name, and traces it to [[ine-pro|*kr-kr-o-|t=circular]] with a question mark.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto 1968)^(Wiktionary) It is compared with the Greek word.^(Nocentini 2010)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is of the zodiac sign, in Restoro d'Arezzo's ''Composizione del mondo'' of 1282.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) The sense “malignant tumour” follows in Bonvesin de la Riva, before 1315, and “crab” in Cecco d'Ascoli, before 1327.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The crab itself was soon left to ''granchio'': Cecco d'Ascoli and Pulci still used ''cancro'' for the animal, as in Pulci's ''Vedeasi il cancro l'ostrica ingannare'', “one saw the crab deceive the oyster”, but the dictionaries now mark this sense as archaic.^(GDLI|2)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The constellation gave the name of the Tropic of Cancer, already in Old Italian.^(TLIO)^(GDLI)

+

+ Domenico Cavalca tells of a woman struck in the breast by ''una laida infermità, che si chiama cancro'', “a foul illness called cancer”.^(GDLI)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) Veterinary texts of the 15th century use the word for ulcers in the mouths of animals.^(LEI) The popular ''canchero'' kept the sense of disease and also became a curse, ''ti venga il canchero''.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(LEI) The figurative sense, a moral vice or corruption, is recorded in Francesco De Sanctis, before 1883.^(DELI 1999) Botany uses it for the decay of plant tissues, and restorers speak of ''cancro del bronzo''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses ''cancro'' for the zodiac sign.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1315 – Bonvesin de la Riva uses it for a malignant tumour.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1327 – Cecco d'Ascoli uses it for the crab.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 17th century – ''Canceroso'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1883 – Francesco De Sanctis uses it for a moral vice.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1937 – ''Cancerogeno'' “carcinogenic” is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1946 – ''Cancerologia'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(colloquial)'' [[m|en|cancer]], a malignant tumour: ''È morto di cancro ai polmoni.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(medicine)'' A [[carcinoma]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A deep-rooted evil, an incurable vice: ''la corruzione è il cancro del paese''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A torment, an obsession: ''il cancro del rimorso''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(botany)'' [[m|en|canker]], the decay of plant tissue caused by parasites.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # Corrosion of bronze or marble.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''(astronomy, astrology, usually capitalised)'' Cancer, the constellation and the fourth sign of the zodiac; a person born under it.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(archaic)'' A crab.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[canceroso]]

+ * [[cancerogeno]]

+ * [[cancerologia]]

+ * [[cancerizzarsi]]

+ * [[anticancro]]

+ * [[cancroide]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cancerologo]]

+ * [[granchio]]

+ * [[canchero]]

+ * [[carcinoma]]

+ * [[la|cancer]]

+ * [[la|carcer]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}