rocchetta

Italian

Etymology

From Old Italian rocchetto (“rocket”, literally “a bobbin”), diminutive of rocca (“a distaff”), from Lombardic rocko (“spinning wheel”), from Proto-West Germanic *rokkō, from Proto-Germanic *rukkô (“a distaff, a staff with flax fibres tied loosely to it, used in spinning thread”). Cognate with Old High German rocco, rocko, roccho, rocho ("a distaff"; > German Rocken (“a distaff”)), Swedish rock (“a distaff”), Icelandic rokkur (“a distaff”), Middle English rocke (“a distaff”). More at rock⁴.

For the meaning development, compare fuselage, ultimately from Latin fūsus (“spindle, spinning wheel”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rokˈket.ta/
• Rhymes: -etta
• Hyphenation: roc‧chét‧ta

Noun

rocchetta f (plural rocchette)

1. (military) incendiary rocket