frocio

• IPA^(key): /ˈfrɔ.t͡ʃo/
  • Rhymes: -ɔtʃo
  • Hyphenation: frò‧cio
• (central Italy) IPA^(key): [ˈfɾɔː.ʃo]

Disputed. First attested in 1914, originally as a dialectal Roman word. Compare earlier Neapolitan froscio (“flabby, flaccid; idiot, stupid person”), akin to floscio, and Sicilian frociu (“idiot, coward”). Compare also Venetan fenocio (“gay man”) and Emilian fnòč (“gay man”), akin to synonymous finocchio (literally “fennel”).

• froscio (alterantive spelling, dated)
• frocia, frociə (LGBTQ slang)
• frocie (LGBTQ slang, collective)

frocio (feminine frocia, masculine plural froci, feminine plural frocie) (originally Romanesco)

1. (vulgar, derogatory) gay, homosexual

frocio m (plural froci) (originally Romanesco)

1. (vulgar, derogatory, outgroup) gay man, poof, faggot

   Synonyms: finocchio, ricchione, invertito, busone, purpo, checca, checca isterica

   • [1914 June 1, Italo Tavolato, “Zibaldone”, in Lacerba, number 2.11, page 170a:

     Chi dice froscio, chi dice finocchio. A Firenze prevale la variante «c'è la peste».

     Those who say froscio, those who say finocchio. In Florence, the variant "there is the plague" prevails.]

   1. (by extension, derogatory, outgroup) unmanly man, weak man

      Synonyms: femminuccia, mammoletta

2. (friendly, ingroup) homosexual person, especially a gay man

   Synonyms: amo, amio, finocchia

Akin to Neapolitan froscio (“foreigner”). Traditionally linked to frocia (“nostril”).

• froscio (alternative spelling, dated)

frocio m (plural froci) (derogatory, Romanesco, dated)

1. German, Swiss, Austrian

   Synonym: crucco

   • 1909, Cesare Pascarella, “La musica nostra”, in Sonetti:

     Be’, che dice? Che l’opera italiana // È la più mejo musica der monno. // E tu che soni appena la campana, // Me venghi a di’ che er frocio sia profonno?

     Well, what does she say? That Italian opera is the best music of the world. And you who barely play the bell come telling me that the German is deep?

   • 1832 January 25, Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli, “L'immasciatori de Roma”, in Luigi Morandi, editor, Sonetti romaneschi, volume 2, Castello: S. Lapi, published 1886, page 62:

     Mo p'er Re d'Apollonia e dde le Russe // C'è Ccacarini tuo de quella sera: // Pe' li du fròsci, Merluzzoffe e Bbusse.

     Now, for the king of Poland and of Russia there's your Gagarin from that evening, for the two Germans [rulers of Austria and Germany] there's von Lützow and von Bunsen.

2. French
   • [1879, Francesco Sabatini, “Il Jacaccio, ms. inedito del sec. XVIII”, in Rivista di Letteratura Popolare, volume 1, page 304:

     Froscio, francese. Questa significazione è errata, perchè il volgo ha sempre chiamato col nome di fròcio i tedeschi e gli svizzeri.

     Froscio, French [according to a 18th c. manuscript]. This meaning is wrong, because the common people have aways called fròcio the Germans and the Swiss [note added by Sabatini].]

   • 1793 February 6, Leone Vicchi, editor, Les français à Rome pendant la convention (1792–1795), Fusignano, published 1892, page 57:

     Tata m'ha messo in mano n'archibuscio; // M'à ditto: fijo mio, si vedi un froscio, // Tireje a volo, […]

     My father gave me a harquebus, and told me: son, if you see a French, shoot at sight, […]

• orfico