fioco
Italian edit
Etymology edit
Akin to fiacco (“tired, feeble”), from Latin flaccus (“flabby, flaccid”), possibly with contamination of roco, rauco (“hoarse”). Compare also German flau (“weak”).
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
fioco (feminine fioca, masculine plural fiochi, feminine plural fioche)
- hoarse, feeble, weak, faint
- dim, wan
- mid 1300s–mid 1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto I”, in Inferno [Hell][1], lines 61–63; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate][2], 2nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:
- Mentre ch’i’ rovinava in basso loco, ¶ dinanzi a li occhi mi si fu offerto ¶ chi per lungo silenzio parea fioco.
- While I was rushing downward to the lowland, before my eyes presented himself he who looked dim due to long-continued silence.
Derived terms edit
Further reading edit
- fioco in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
- Pianigiani, Ottorino (1907) “fioco”, in Vocabolario etimologico della lingua italiana (in Italian), Rome: Albrighi & Segati