cicerone
English
Etymology
1726,[1] from Italian cicerone (surface analysis cicero + -one (augmentative)), from Latin Cicerōnem, form of Cicerō, agnomen of Marcus Tullius Cicero), the Roman orator, from cicer (“chickpea”) from Proto-Indo-European *ḱiker- (“pea”). Possibly humorous reference to loquaciousness of guides.[1]
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /t͡ʃɪt͡ʃəˈɹəʊni/, /sɪsəˈɹəʊni/
Noun
cicerone (plural cicerones or ciceroni)
- A guide who shows people around tourist sights.
- 1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days, Part I, Chapter 7
- East, still doing the cicerone, pointed out all the remarkable characters to Tom as they passed […]
- 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 3:
- he was in the act of making his evening plans with the same smelly but nice cicerone in a café-au-lait suit whom he had hired already twice at the same Genoese hotel [...].
- 1987, Michael Brodsky, Xman, p. 360:
- Ultimately their gazes all rested on his cicerone as most powerful member of the group.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 279:
- “First,” advised their cicerone in the matter, Professor Svegli of the University of Pisa, “try to forget the usual picture in two dimensions.”
- 1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days, Part I, Chapter 7
Related terms
Translations
Verb
cicerone (third-person singular simple present cicerones, present participle ciceroning, simple past and past participle ciceroned)
- (transitive, intransitive, archaic) To show (somebody) the sights, acting as a tourist guide.
References
- “cicerone” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
Italian
Etymology
From Latin Cicerōnem, form of Cicerō, agnomen of Marcus Tullius Cicero), the Roman orator, from cicer (“chickpea”), a reference to his warts, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱiker- (“pea”). Surface analysis cicero + -one (“( augmentative)”).
Portuguese
Etymology
From Italian cicerone, named after Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero.
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /si.se.ˈɾo.ni/
- (South Brazil) IPA(key): /si.se.ˈɾo.ne/