Punchinello
(pʌn(t)ʃɪˈnɛləʊ)
Forms: α. 7 polichinello, 7–9 polichinelle, 9 policinello, pulc(h)inello. β. 7 puntionella, punchonello, 7–8 punch(i)anello, 7–9 punci-, 8–9 ponchi-, 7– punchinello. γ. 7 pugenello.
[In the form polichinello, app. ad. Neapolitan dial. Polecenella (whence also F. Polichinelle, 1680 in Hatz.-Darm.) name of a character of the puppet theatre; = It. Pulcinella. Origin uncertain. See Note below.]
1. Name of the principal character in a puppet-show of Italian origin, the prototype of Punch; hence applied to the show (and quot. 1666 in β, to the exhibitor); sometimes to a living performer.
| [Cf. 1662 Pepys Diary 8 Oct., The King, before whom the puppet plays I saw this summer in Covent-garden are acted this night.] |
| a 1666 Pepys Diary 22 Aug., I with my wife..by coach to Moorefields, and there saw ‘Polichinello’, which pleases me mightily. 1668 Ibid. 2 May, [At the Duke of York's playhouse] A little boy, for a farce, do dance Polichinelli. 1668 Ibid. 31 Aug., Thence to the Fayre, and saw ‘Polichinelle’. 1818 Lady Morgan Autobiog. (1859) 195 Sanky went off without calling when he heard of a workbox and Polichinelle. 1827 Disraeli Viv. Grey v. iv, A long grinning wooden figure, with great staring eyes, and the parrot nose of a pulcinello. 1880 Warren Book-plates x. 110 Garnished about with festoons of roses, a branch of oak, mask and pulchinello, quiver and pan-pipe. 1897 Q. Rev. Oct. 331 They are simply Judy-puppets in the Policinello of conventionality. |
| β 1666 Overseers' Bks., St. Martins in-the-fields 29 Mar., Rec. of Punchinello, y⊇ Italian popet-player, for his booth at Chareing Crosse {pstlg}2 12 6. 1668 H. More Div. Dial., Schol. (1713) 570, I question not but the Quakers..would play the part of the Puppet or Punchinello in the Antelude of the Pageant. a 1680 Butler Sat. on Imit. French 101 And the worst Drols of Punchinellos Were much th' ingeniouser Fellows. 1683 Norwich Crt. Bks. 22 Dec. (1905) 173 Peter Dolman has leave to show a motion called his Majesty's Puntionella, at the Angel. 1709 Rambl. Fuddle-Cups 7 A Barthol'mew-Fair Punchanello. 1728 Swift Mullinix & Tim. Wks. 1755 III. ii. 211 The world consists of puppet-shows; Where petulant conceited fellows Perform the part of Punchinelloes. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xxii, See signor, there is Punchinello. 1835 Willis Pencillings I. xx. 142 Puncinello squeaked and beat his mistress at every corner. [1860 Once a Week 24 Mar. 281/1 (Stanf.) Harlequins, mysterious-looking dominoes, ponchinelli, and dresses of all periods.] |
| γ 1667 Dryden Sir Martin Mar-all v. ii, Rose. I know no way so proper for you, as to turn Poet to Pugenello. 1668 Shadwell Sullen Lovers v. 96 Enter a boy in the habit of Pugenello, and traverses the Stage. |
2. transf. Applied to any person, animal, or thing, thought to resemble the puppet,
esp. in being short and stout.
Cf. punch n.4| 1669 Pepys Diary 20 Apr., Going away with extraordinary report of the proof of his gun, which, from the shortness and bigness, they do call Punchinello. 1683 Tryon Way to Health 478 We have no fatted Swine, fatted Oxen or Punchonello's amongst us: neither have we any of Pharoah's lean Kine. a 1769 Johnson in Boswell Life (Maxwell's Recollections), [Being told that Gilbert Cowper (who was short and very stout) called him the Caliban of literature] ‘Well’ [said he], ‘I must dub him the Punchinello’. 1834 M. Howitt Sk. Nat. Hist., Monkey, Monkey, little merry fellow, Thou art Nature's Punchinello. c 1835 Comic song, ‘The great Mogul’, The great Mogul, as I've heard people say, Was a fat little Punchinello. |
3. attrib. Punchinello voice = Punch's voice (
Punch n.5 1 c).
| 1797 Burke Let. Mrs. Crewe Corr. (1844) IV. 417 The shame and misfortune of our country would make one almost mad, if these punchinello statesmen did not sometimes come out to make us laugh. 1853 W. O. Markham tr. Skoda's Auscult. 283 The intensity of the râles..; the punchinello voice accompanying the pectoriloquy. |
[
Note. There is every probability that the
Eng. polichinello and F.
polichinelle are derived from the Neapolitan word, and that
Punchinello, although evidenced somewhat earlier, and actually given (
prob. in error) as the name of the puppet-showman, was an English alteration. The Italian word is said in the
Vocabolario Napoletano of 1789, to be a corruption of the name of a comedian
Puccio d'Aniello, originally a peasant of Acerra, whose uncouth physiognomy is said to have served as the model for the mask of the character; another conjecture cites the name of one
Paulo Cinella, said to have been a buffoon at Naples. Setting aside these legends or conjectures, it has been pointed out that
It. pulcinella is
dim. of
pulcina chicken, and according to Quadrio and Barretti, cited by Pianigiani
Vocab. Etimol. della lingua Ital., 1907, in the Neapolitan
dial. pollecenella is
dim. of
pollecena, the young of the turkey-cock, to the hooked bill of which the nose of the mask bears a resemblance.]