lissìa

Sicilian

Alternative forms

  • liscìa (palatalized)
  • lixìa (palatalized, obsolete spelling)
  • lisìa (lenited)

Etymology

Inherited from Latin lixīvia, from lixīvus. Compare Italian liscivia, Portuguese lixívia, Spanish lejía, Sardinian lessìa.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lisˈsi.a/, [lɪˈsːiːa̠]
  • Rhymes: -ia
  • Hyphenation: lis‧sì‧a

Noun

lissìa f (uncountable)

  1. lye (caustic alkaline solution)
    • c. 1321–37, Accurso di Cremona, Libru di Valeriu Maximu, L. 2, chapter 1, volume 1, page 53, line 32:
      Et a chò que lur belliza fussi plù semelianti a lu cisnu, illi se imblundianu li capilli cun lissia factata di ciniri acunza a fari chò.
      And in order to make their beauty more similar to a swan, they blondened their hair with lye prepared with ash, appropriate to do such thing [= the blondening].
  2. (figuratively) the giggles (fit of uncontrolled laughter)
    pèrdiri l'affannu e la liscìa
    to strain oneself in vain
    (literally, “to lose both breathlessness and laughter”)
    Chi ci vinni, 'a lissìa?
    What's up with him now, has he caught the giggles?

Descendants

  • → Maltese: lissija

References

  • Traina, Antonino (1868) “lissìa”, in Nuovo vocabolario Siciliano-Italiano [New Sicilian-Italian vocabulary] (in Italian), Liber Liber, published 2020, page 2273
  • Pasqualino (c. 1790) “lissìa”, in Vocabolario siciliano etimologico, italiano e latino (in Italian), volume 3, page 45
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