# Sicilian: Picciriddo



## aerynsun

*Picirrido*
Hello, this is my first post here, so please bear with me.
Can someone give me English translation of this word? It is a colloquial word for a small child that I came accross while watching a programme from Sicily, but I cannot find the English equivalent.
Thank you.


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## winegrower

I think that picciridu or picciriddu in Sicilian and Calabrian or piccirìllo in Neapolitan or piccirichi in Greek (this is a small world!) are all idiomatic terms meaning fanciullo, piccino= small child, kid. I don't suppose there's a specific equivalent in english. On dictionaries I found the terms: moppet and pee-wee but they are beyond my english!


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## Murphy

Have a look at this old thread:  http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1047447


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## Pitufa86

I can confirm that _picciriddu_ is a sicilian term. Picciriddu= little boy,kid.
we call _picciriddu _a little boy until the age of 10/11, afterwards we call him _picciutteddu_.


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## k_georgiadis

winegrower said:


> I think that picciridu or picciriddu in Sicilian and Calabrian or piccirìllo in Neapolitan or piccirichi in Greek (this is a small world!) are all idiomatic terms meaning fanciullo, piccino= small child, kid. I don't suppose there's a specific equivalent in english. On dictionaries I found the terms: moppet and pee-wee but they are beyond my english!



It all goes back to Magna Grecia.


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## aerynsun

Thank you all for your kind replies. The link to Ancient Greece was a fascinating bonus information!


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## franz rod

> It all goes back to Magna Grecia.



Sembra invece di no. Deriva dalla radice "pic" (presente in piccolo ma anche in picca ad esempio) con l'aggiunta raddoppiata di "ilus" (cioè un "classico" diminutivo):  picc-il-illu(m).


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## k_georgiadis

franz rod said:


> Sembra invece di no. Deriva dalla radice "pic" (presente in piccolo ma anche in picca ad esempio) con l'aggiunta raddoppiata di "ilus" (cioè un "classico" diminutivo):  picc-il-illu(m).



What I really meant is that several Sicilian words found their way into Greek (and probably vice versa) because Greece started colonizing Sicily in 750 BC. I always thought that picciridu is an Italian word.


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## franz rod

Questo è indubbio, ma leggendo il tuo intervento sembra che la parola picciriddu derivi dal greco, mentre più presumibilmente dovrebbe derivare dal latino.


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## k_georgiadis

franz rod said:


> Questo è indubbio, ma leggendo il tuo intervento sembra che la parola picciriddu derivi dal greco, mentre più presumibilmente dovrebbe derivare dal latino.



That was not what I meant. Sorry for the confusion.


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## Ermelinda85

Ciao, devo tradurre un brano di Camilleri e non riesco a trovare l'equivalente inglese per il siciliano "picciriddo". Qualcuno mi sa aiutare? Grazie


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## latex2e

This is an old thread, but this is for reference:
In Romanian, we have "pici", also for a small kid. I only heard it in masculine "pici", with the definite article "piciul".


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## Apollodorus

The Wiktionary page on Sicilian “picciriddu” says: “Probably from an unattested Vulgar Latin _*pittilillus_, from _*pittulus_, from an earlier _*piccus_, borrowed from Proto-Celtic _*bikkos_ (“small, little”). Cognate with Neapolitan _piccerillo_, and Greek πιτσιρίκος (_pitsiríkos_)”.

Babiniotis says that Greek “pitsirikos” (πιτσιρίκος) is from Italian “piccirillo” (“young child”) from piccino/piccinino, from Vulgar Latin pi(t)sinus/*pitzinninus.

As regards the Romanian word, according to the DEX Dictionary, “pici”, “little boy” is from Turkish “piç”.

But the Turkish word is said to mean “illegitimate child”.


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