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