Sicilianadj.n.
/sɪˈsɪlɪən/ A. adj.
1.
a. Of or pertaining to Sicily or its inhabitants; characteristic of Sicily or the Sicilians.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Europe > the Italians > [adjective] > Sicily
Siciliana1616
Sicanian1647
Sicel1895
Siculan1975
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) v. i. 163 My best Traine I haue from your Sicilian Shores dismiss'd. View more context for this quotation
1649 J. Ogilby in tr. Virgil Bucolics (1684) iii. 14 (note) Archimedes, that famous Sicilian Mathematician.
1693 J. Dryden in tr. Persius Satires iii. 43 (note) Sicilian Tortures, &c. Some of the Sicilian Kings were so great Tyrants, that the Name is become Proverbial.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Silk Part of the Sicilian Silks are Raw; the rest Spun and Mill'd.
1781 W. Cowper Heroism 24 All the charms of a Sicilian year.
1871 tr. H. Schellen Spectrum Anal. 259 In most of the Sicilian drawings there is a tendency to an annular form.
b. Of or pertaining to the Italian dialect of Sicily.
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the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [adjective] > Indo-European > Italic > of Romance languages > Italian > of dialects of
Piedmontese1676
Romanesco1826
Sicilian1842
Torinese1864
Lucchese1959
1842 W. C. Taylor Student's Man. Anc. Hist. (ed. 3) xiv. §1. 381 Zancle..deriving its first name from the old Sicilian word Zanclos signifying a reaping-hook.
1881 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 495/1 The Sicilian vocalism is conspicuously etymological.
1975 Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Oct. 1296/3 Dialect seems diminishing and parochial to the serious writer... We can meet good Sicilian or Venetian or Roman dialogue, but not good Italian dialogue.
2.
a. In special collocations, as Sicilian embroidery (see quot. 1882); Sicilian defence, Sicilian game, Sicilian opening (in chess); Sicilian Vespers (see quot. 1728). Sicilian Evensong: = Sicilian Vespers.
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the world > life > death > killing > slaughter > [noun] > instance of
slaughter1483
Sicilian Vespers1586
plot of the long knivesa1604
blood feast?1611
Parisian matins1614
Parisian massacre1657
bloodbath1814
Roman holiday1818
holocaust1833
bath of blood1882
pogrom1889
bloodfest1907
blood purge1959
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > chess > [noun] > named openings or continuations
gambit1735
game1735
Giuoco Piano1813
Sicilian game1847
Sicilian opening1852
Ruy Lopez1859
French defence1868
Sicilian defence1875
Siesta gambit1935
King's (or Queen's) Indian defence1942
Nimzo-Indian1954
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > ornamental textiles > ornamental trimmings > [noun] > other
label1440
tag1570
O1587
velvet-guard1598
seam1687
looping1690
patte1835
sequin1857
flot1872
torsade1872
Sicilian embroidery1882
astrakhan1887
goffering1889
fob1894
strass1926
1586 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. I. 771 All the Frenchmen that were in the Ile of Sicilia..vpon Easter day, at the first peale to Euensong..were all put to death..whereupon this prouerbe doth yet remaine amongst vs, The Sicilian Euensong [Fr. Vespres Siciliennes].
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Vespres Siciliennes, the Sicilian Evensong; mischiefes done, or death inflicted, in a place, and time, of imagined securitie.
a1649 W. Drummond Irene in Wks. (1711) 168 Towns will close their Gates upon you; and ye may some Day expect a Sicilian Even-Song.
1656 T. Blount Glossographia at Vespers Sicilian Vesperas, is taken proverbially [etc., copying Cotgrave].
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Vespers Sicilian Vespers,..a general Massacre of all the French in Sicily, in the Year 1282; to which the first Toll that call'd to Vespers was the Signal.
1802 J. Pinkerton Mod. Geogr. II. 638 After the Sicilian vespers, 1282, Sicily was seized by a fleet sent by the kings of Arragon.
1847 H. Staunton Chess-player's Handbk. v. ii. 371 The Sicilian Game... In the opinion of Jaenisch..this is the best possible reply to the move of I.P. to K's 4th.
1852 H. Staunton Chess Tournament 29 I have before taken occasion to remark that in this position of the Sicilian Opening, the first player may gain time..by taking off the Kt. at once.
1875 G. H. D. Gossip Chess-player's Man. iv. xxx. 799 The ‘Sicilian’ is now considered by most modern authorities to be a comparatively weak mode of play... We are of the opinion that the Sicilian defence is not so bad as it has been represented.
1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 448/2 Sicilian Embroidery, an effective and easy work, formed with muslin, thin cambric, and braid, and is used for trimmings to washing dresses or for tea cloths and ornamental linen.
1883 Standard 28 Apr. 3/1 Noa and Tchigorin drew a Sicilian opening.
1900 Knowledge 1 Aug. 192/1 The success attending the Sicilian defence is especially noteworthy.
1975 Amer. Speech 1971 46 232 One can hear heated arguments on the virtues of the Maroczy Variation of the Scheveningen System in the Sicilian Defence to the King's Pawn Opening.
b. In names of plants, products, etc., as Sicilian hore-hound, Sicilian radish, Sicilian toad-flax; Sicilian earth, Sicilian saffron; Sicilian sword-fish.
ΚΠ
1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I. at Linaria Sicilian Toad-Flax, with many Stalks, and a Leaf of the White Lady's Bedstraw.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. i. 117 A vast profusion of turnips and Sicilian radishes.
1776 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (ed. 4, octavo) III. iv. 160 Sword Fish..Sicilian.
1822 S. Clarke Hortus Anglicus II. 98 Marrubium Peregrinum. Sicilian White Horehound.
1846 J. Lindley Veg. Kingdom 161 Sicilian saffron is obtained from Crocus odorus, according to Gussone.
1867 W. T. Brande & G. W. Cox Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art (new ed.) III. 440/2 Sicilian Earth, a name sometimes given to fossil bezoar, which appears to be of a similar character to Armenian Bole.
B. n.
1. A native of Sicily.
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the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Europe > the Italians > [noun] > native or inhabitant of Italy > Sicily
Sicilian1513
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid v. vi. 16 Of Troianis samyn and Sicilianis a rout.
1644 J. Milton Areopagitica 24 He whom an honest quæstorship had indear'd to the Sicilians.
1685 J. Dryden Sylvæ Pref. sig. a6 Theocritus writ to Sicilians, who spoke that Dialect.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Silk The rest of Italy and Spain learned from the Sicilians, and Calabrians, the Management of the Silk-Worms.
1788 J. Lemprière Classical Dict. at Metelli A general of the Roman armies against the Sicilians and Carthaginians.
1825 E. Bulwer-Lytton Zicci 5 The Sicilians are all ill-bred, bad-tempered fellows.
1880 ‘Ouida’ Moths III. 10 Her Sicilian had been also on the banks of the Teple.
2. = Siciliana n. rare.
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society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > Italian dance or dancing > [noun]
Moresco1567
tarantula1698
Siciliana1724
Sicilian1728
tarantella1784
sicilienne1883
Morisca1935
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > dance music > [noun] > folk or country dance > Italian
villanellea1586
villanella1597
saltarello1724
Siciliana1724
Sicilian1728
tarantella1835
sicilienne1883
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Sicilian, in Music, &c. a Kind of gay sprightly Air, or Dance; somewhat of the Nature of an English Jig.
3. = sicilienne n.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from mixed fibres > [noun] > silk and wool > poplin
poplin1710
sicilienne1873
bengaline1884
Sicilian1908
1908 Daily Chron. 11 June 11/5 Machinists.—Skirts, voiles, and Sicilians.
4. A language or dialect spoken in Sicily, spec. a dialect of modern Italian.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > postulated Italo-Celtic > Romance > Italian > varieties of
courtesan1549
Roman1561
Tuscan1568
Lombard1598
Neapolitan1598
Venetian1598
Lucchese1642
Milanese1642
Piedmontese1642
Romanesco1792
Sicilian1818
Ligurian1835
Bolognese1839
Corsican1855
Florentine1855
Veronese1872
Emilian1878
Romanaccio1963
Torinese1975
1818 J. Keats Let. 3 May in R. M. Milnes Life, Lett., &c. J. Keats (1848) I. 135 Or may I woo thee In earlier Sicilian?
1859 B. W. Dwight Mod. Philol. i. 187 Italian: (Dialects, Lombard; Genoese; Florentine; Neapolitan, Sicilian,..&c.).
1880 A. H. Sayce Introd. Sci. of Lang. II. vii. 119 Sicilian, for instance, reads like a new language.
1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. iv. 64 Ligurian (round the present Riviera) and Sicilian in Sicily, may have been close to Italic.
1968 D. M. Smith Hist. Sicily I. v. 63 Giacomo of Lentini, author of a Provençal-type lyric which is the first poem in true Sicilian that has survived.
1978 Language 54 184 Sicilian reflects the seven-vowel Southern Romance vocalism.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1910; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1513