bucca

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʌk.ə/
• Rhymes: -ʌkə

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Cornish bucca. Doublet of pooka and puck.

Noun

bucca (plural buccas)

1. (UK) A storm spirit in Cornish folklore, traditionally believed to inhabit mines and coastal communities.
   • 2008, Oliver Berry, Belinda Dixon, Devon, Cornwall & Southwest England, page 273:

     a fabled menagerie of fairies, buccas, sprites and giants

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin bucca (“the cheek”).

Noun

bucca (plural buccae)

1. (anatomy) Synonym of cheek.

References

• “bucca”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Cornish

Etymology

Possibly borrowed from Old English pūca (“demon, goblin”). Or, from Irish púca (“hobgoblin”). In either case, probably ultimately from Proto-Germanic *pūkô.

Noun

bucca

1. hobgoblin

Descendants

• → English: bucca

References

• Daimler, M. (2017). Fairies: A Guide to the Celtic Fair Folk. United Kingdom: John Hunt Publishing
• Isles of Wonder: the cover story. (n.d.). (n.p.): Lulu.com, p. 181

Interlingua

Noun

bucca (plural buccas)

1. mouth

Latin

Alternative forms

• buca

Etymology

Uncertain. Celtic origin is suspected due to similarity with beccus (“beak”), names like Gaulish Buccus, Buccō, Bucciō as well as the appearance of words bocca and boca (of unknown meaning) on the Larzac tablet. IEW compares it with Proto-Germanic *pukkô (“bag, pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew, *bʰew- (“to swell, puff”), whose initial b- would point to a substrate or imitative origin. Compare also English puke, German fauchen.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈbuk.ka/, [ˈbʊkːä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈbuk.ka/, [ˈbukːä]

Noun

bucca f (genitive buccae); first declension

1. (anatomy):
   1. the soft part of the cheek puffed or filled out in speaking or eating
   2. (in the plural) the jaw
   3. (colloquial) the mouth

      Synonym: ōs

      • Lucius Pomponius Bononiensis, Comedies 150:

        sī valēbit, puls in buccam bētet

        if he's well, the porridge will find a way into his mouth

2. (metonymically):
   1. one who fills his cheeks in speaking; declaimer, bawler
   2. one who stuffs out his cheeks in eating; parasite
   3. a mouthful
3. (transferred sense) any cavity in general
4. (hapax) A catchword of uncertain meaning used in a guessing game, possibly equivalent and/or related to English buck buck.
   • c. 27 CE – 66 CE, Petronius, Satyricon 64.12:

     bucca, bucca, quot sunt hīc?

Usage notes

Found in the sense of 'mouth' beginning from Pomponius and Varro (early 1st century BCE), as well as with Cicero in the colloquial expression in buccam venīre (“to come to mind first”), foreshadowing the eventual replacement of ōs by this term.

Inflection

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	bucca	buccae
Genitive	buccae	buccārum
Dative	buccae	buccīs
Accusative	buccam	buccās
Ablative	buccā	buccīs
Vocative	bucca	buccae

Derived terms

• Bucca
• buccea
• buccella
• buccifer
• buccina
• buccō
• buccōsus
• buccula
• saccibuccis

 

Descendants

Descendants of bucca

• →? Albanian: bukë (disputed)
• →? Egyptian Arabic: بق (disputed)
• → Proto-Celtic:
  • Proto-Brythonic: *box
    • Breton: boc'h
    • Cornish: bogh
    • Welsh: boch
  • Irish: bus
  • Scottish Gaelic: bòc
• Eastern Romance:
  • Aromanian: bucã
  • Romanian: bucă
• → English: bucca, ⇒ buccal
• →⇒ Finnish: bukkaalinen
• Franco-Provençal: boche
• ⇒ French: buccal
• Gallo-Italic:
  • Ligurian: bócca
• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Corsican: bocca
  • Dalmatian: buca
  • Istriot: buca
  • Italian: bocca
  • Neapolitan: vocca
  • Sassarese: bocca
  • Sicilian: vucca, 'ucca, ucca
• Old Occitan: bocha
  • Occitan: boca
• Oïl:
  • Old French: boche
    • Bourguignon: bôche
    • Middle French: bouche
      • French: bouche
      • Norman: bouoche
    • Walloon: boutche
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: bocje, bočhe (alternative orthography)
  • Romansch: bucca
• Sardinian: buca
  • Gallurese: bucca
• Venetan: boca
• Western Iberian:
  • Extremaduran: boca
  • Navarro-Aragonese:
    • Aragonese: boca
  • Old Leonese:
    • Asturian: boca
    • Leonese: bouca
    • Mirandese: boca
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: boca
    • Galician: boca
    • Portuguese: boca
  • Old Spanish: boca
    • Spanish: boca

See also

• ōs

References

• “bucca” on page 266 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “bucca”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 76
• Pokorny, Julius (1959) “b(e)u-2, bh(e)ū̆-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 1, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 98-102

Further reading

• “bucca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “bucca”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• bucca in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• bucca in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *bukkō, from Proto-Germanic *bukkô (“male goat”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰugo- (“buck”). Akin to Old High German boc, Old Norse bukkr, Middle Dutch boc, Avestan 𐬠𐬏𐬰𐬀 (būza, “buck, goat”), Old Armenian բուծ (buc, “lamb”), Old English bucc (“male deer”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbuk.kɑ/

Noun

bucca m (nominative plural buccan)

1. he-goat

Declension

Declension of bucca (weak)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	bucca	buccan
accusative	buccan	buccan
genitive	buccan	buccena
dative	buccan	buccum

Related terms

• bucc
• byċċen

Descendants

• Middle English: bukke, bucke, buk, bocke, bucce, boke, buc
  • English: buck
  • Scots: buk, buke, buik
  • Yola: buch

Sicilian

Alternative forms

• vucca, ucca

Etymology

From Latin bucca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbukka/
• Hyphenation: bùc‧ca

Noun

bucca f (plural bucchi)

1. mouth