rubecchio

Italian

Alternative forms

• rubbecchio, robecchio (obsolete?)

Etymology

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

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

Adjective

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

1. (obsolete) rubescent

   Synonyms: rosseggiante, (poetic) rubente, (literary) rubescente

   • 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.

Further reading

• rubecchio in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• cherubico