clocca

Latin

Etymology

Probably of Celtic origin, from Proto-Celtic *klokkos (“bell”) (compare Welsh cloch, Old Irish cloc), either onomatopoeic or from Proto-Indo-European *klek- (“to laugh, cackle”) (compare Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną (“to laugh”)).

The Oxford English Dictionary observes that this Latin word was most widespread in western and northern Europe; it seems to have followed the spread of Christianity in these areas. The word is first attested in texts from Ireland and may have originated there. Southern European languages instead derive their word for "bell" from Late Latin campana.

Pronunciation

• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈklok.ka/, [ˈklɔkːä]

Noun

clocca f (genitive cloccae); first declension (Early Medieval Latin)

1. (Medieval Latin) bell [from 8th century]
2. (Medieval Latin) clock [from 15th century]
3. (Medieval Latin) a cloak in the shape of a bell worn by riders and travellers [from 13th century]

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	clocca	cloccae
Genitive	cloccae	cloccārum
Dative	cloccae	cloccīs
Accusative	cloccam	cloccās
Ablative	cloccā	cloccīs
Vocative	clocca	cloccae

Descendants

• Padanian:
  • Emilian: ciòca
  • Ligurian: cioca
  • Lombard: ciòca
  • Piedmontese: ciòca
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Bourguignon: cloiche
  • Bourbonnais-Berrichon: cloque
  • Franco-Provençal: clloche ; cllocha, hllocha, c'hocha, tllocha (Valdôtain)
  • Old French: cloche
    • Middle French: cloche
      • French: cloche
        • → English: cloche
        • → Esperanto: kloŝo
        • → Italian: cloche
        • → Polish: klosz
  • Old Northern French: cloque
    • French: cloque
    • → Middle English: cloke
      • English: cloak
  • Norman: clioche
  • Picard: cloque
• → Proto-West Germanic: *klokkā (see there for further descendants)

References

• clocca 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)
• R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “cloca”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources‎^[1], London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, →OCLC
• “clock”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.