solecchio

Italian

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *sōliculus, diminutive of Latin sōl (“sun”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /soˈlek.kjo/
• Rhymes: -ekkjo
• Hyphenation: so‧léc‧chio

Noun

solecchio m (plural solecchi)

1. (literary) the gesture of shielding one's own eyes from sunlight by putting an open hand at the level of the eyebrows
   • early-mid 1310s–mid 1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto XV”, in Purgatorio [Purgatory]‎^[1], lines 10–11, 13–15; 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:

     […] io senti’ a me gravar la fronte
     a lo splendore assai più che di prima,
     […]
     ond’io levai le mani inver’ la cima
     de le mie ciglia, e fecimi ’l solecchio.

     I felt my forehead overwhelmed by the splendour, far more than before, […] whereupon I raised my hands towards the summit of my brow, and made myself the visor

Usage notes

• Only used in expressions such as fare il solecchio or farsi il solecchio.

Related terms

• sole

Further reading

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