rubecchio

Italian edit

Alternative forms edit

rubbecchio, robecchio (obsolete?)

Etymology edit

From Vulgar Latin *rubiculus, derived from Latin rubeus (“red”).

A more normal outcome would have been *ruvecchio. The reason for there still being a /b/ is not clear, but influence from related words like robbio or rubino may have played a role.

Pronunciation edit

IPA^(key): /ruˈbek.kjo/
Rhymes: -ekkjo
Hyphenation: ru‧béc‧chio

Adjective edit

rubecchio (feminine rubecchia, masculine plural rubecchi, feminine plural rubecchie)

(obsolete) rubescent
Synonyms: rosseggiante, (poetic) rubente, (literary) rubescente
- early-mid 1310s–mid 1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto IV”, in Purgatorio [Purgatory]‎^[1], lines 61–66; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate]‎^[2], 2^nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:
  Ond’ elli a me: «Se Castore e Polluce
  fossero in compagnia di quello specchio
  che sù e giù del suo lume conduce,
  tu vedresti il Zodïaco rubecchio
  ancora a l’Orse più stretto rotare,
  se non uscisse fuor del cammin vecchio.
  Whereon he said to me: "If Castor and Pollux
  were in the company of that mirror,
  that up and down conducts with its light,
  you would behold the rubescent Zodiac
  revolving still closer to the Bears,
  unless it swerved aside from its old track.

Anagrams edit

cherubico