farfecchia

Italian

Etymology

Inherited from Latin forficula (“small scissors”), from forfic- (“scissors”) +‎ -ula,[1] with an unexpected shift of the first vowel. Compare borrowed doublet forficula and seemingly inherited doublet forfecchia (“earwig”).

Alternatively, possibly from the Osco-Umbrian substrate, from Proto-Italic *farβā (“beard”) with the Latin diminutive suffix -cula,[2] in which case, sharing the same root as Italian barba. Though speculative, this would explain the divergent meaning and /a/ vowel.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /farˈfek.kja/
  • Rhymes: -ekkja
  • Hyphenation: far‧féc‧chia

Noun

farfecchia f (plural farfecchie)

  1. (rare, usually in the plural) moustache

References

  1. ^ “farfécchia”, in Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, volume 5 e–fin, UTET, 1968, page 685c
  2. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “barba”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 69

Further reading

  • farfecchie in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
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