solecchio
Italian edit
Etymology edit
From Vulgar Latin *sōliculus, diminutive of Latin sōl (“sun”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
solecchio m (plural solecchi)
- (literary) the gesture of shielding one's own eyes from sunlight by putting an open hand at the level of the eyebrows
- early-mid 1310s–mid 1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto XV”, in Purgatorio [Purgatory][1], lines 10–11, 13–15; 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:
- […] io senti’ a me gravar la fronte
a lo splendore assai più che di prima,
[…]
ond’io levai le mani inver’ la cima
de le mie ciglia, e fecimi ’l solecchio.- I felt my forehead overwhelmed by the splendour, far more than before, […] whereupon I raised my hands towards the summit of my brow, and made myself the visor
Usage notes edit
- Only used in expressions such as fare il solecchio or farsi il solecchio.
Related terms edit
Further reading edit
- solecchio in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana