Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2004

I'd like to add a note about the possible origin of this use.
"scocciare" literally refers to the action of breaking
"i cocci" (in the original meaning of "shells", cfr
[I guess..] "cozza" i.e. "mussel"), particularly those
of eggs: "scocciare un uovo"="rompere un uovo". The possibility
for this idiomatic expression "scocciare" = "rompere le uova" to
be used as an euphemistic version of "rompere i coglioni" (vulgar
to mean bother, annoy, etc) is evident; see also "rompere le uova
nel paniere" to mean to upset plans,  hinting at a strong semantic
attraction. We have the reflexive form "scocciarsi" as well, meaning
both to get annoyed and to get bored.

Curiously enough, there's room for an alternative, surely varronian
etymology: the transitive "scocciare" and the reflexive "scocciarsi"
are the opposites of "incocciare/arsi", sailor's and angler's jargon
for hooking on. When a locked hook get released, or when a fish escapes
the hook, you can say that "si scoccia", or "si e' scocciato"....;-)

[Only to alt.usage.english]

Enzo Michelangeli:

That's interesting, because the stem "scocc-" must sound a lot like
the English verb "scotch", meaning to interfere with.  But I always
assumed that one referred somehow to Scottish hostility to the English.

Let's see what <http://www.m-w.com> has... oh, *more* interesting.
They list two *separate* English verbs with similar meanings.

"scotch [1,transitive verb]", they say, has an archaic sense of "cut,
gash, score", and also "wound", and a modern sense of "put an end to".i
And scotch[4,transitive verb] means to "block with a chock", "hinder",
"thwart".  They give no etymology for the latter verb, but they say
the former is derived from Middle English "scocchen", to gash.  I wonder
if this is a cognate to the Italian verb.

A slim possibility is that the word he has in mind is 'scutch'. From
the OED:

Now chiefly dial.

  trans. To strike with a stick or whip, to slash, switch. Also intr.
to strike at.
 

The word "scutch" can be found in dictionaries (it's in Collins for
example)although it's now pretty obsolete.  The meaning is to pound or
bea, as in the process of separating fibres of flax, etc.

Neil