solecchio

From Vulgar Latin *sōliculus, diminutive of Latin sōl (“sun”).

• IPA^(key): /soˈlek.kjo/
• Rhymes: -ekkjo
• Hyphenation: so‧léc‧chio

solecchio m (plural solecchi)

1. (literary) the gesture of shielding one's own eyes from sunlight by putting an open hand at the level of the eyebrows
   • 1316 c., Dante Alighieri, “Canto XV”, in Purgatorio‎, lines 10–15; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata‎, 2^nd revised edition, Florence: Casa Editrice Le Lettere, 1994:

     io senti' a me gravar la fronte
     a lo splendore assai più che di prima,
     e stupor m'eran le cose non conte;
     ond'io levai le mani inver' la cima
     de le mie ciglia e fecimi 'l solecchio,
     che del soverchio visibile lima.

     I perceived my forehead overpowered
     beneath the splendour far more than at first,
     and stupor were to me the things unknown,
     whereat I raised my hands towards the summit
     of my brow, and made myself the visor
     which the excessive glare diminishes.

• Only used in expressions such as fare il solecchio or farsi il solecchio.

• sole

• solecchio in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana