Sicilian: Bedda Nica Ducci

D

Dill Pickle

New Member
English - US
My family is of Sicilian heritage on my mother's side. As a child my mother and grandmother would pinch my cheeks and say in a pleasant high pitched voice "bedda nica ducci." I know it was a pleasantry, but don't know what it means except the bedda part. I'm also not sure of the spelling. Anyone also familiar with this phrase?
 
    • Hi DP, and welcome.
    Here's everything you need to know about the "nica" part (Sicilian for "little"): Le origini di “nicu”: quando i siciliani non resistono alla tenerezza - Sicilian Post

    My guess is that what you heard as "ducci" was simply the addition a diminutive ending to "nica," and the word they were saying was some specific dialect version of "nicuzza." There's a "nicaredda" version, so there may well be "nicaduccia" or "nicaduzza" as well. So they were lovingly calling you a pretty little thing. No Sicilians in my family: I've just read a lot of Andrea Camilleri. :)
     
    theartichoke said:
    Hi DP, and welcome.
    Here's everything you need to know about the "nica" part (Sicilian for "little"): Le origini di “nicu”: quando i siciliani non resistono alla tenerezza - Sicilian Post

    My guess is that what you heard as "ducci" was simply the addition a diminutive ending to "nica," and the word they were saying was some specific dialect version of "nicuzza." There's a "nicaredda" version, so there may well be "nicaduccia" or "nicaduzza" as well. So they were lovingly calling you a pretty little thing. No Sicilians in my family: I've just read a lot of Andrea Camilleri. :)
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    Hats off to you, @theartichoke, such a perfect explanation. What if 'ducci' was the diminutive of his/her proper name, though (just a wild guess, probably)?
     
    danieleferrari said:
    Hats off to you, @theartichoke, such a perfect explanation. What if 'ducci' was the diminutive of his/her proper name, though (just a wild guess, probably)?
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    Elementary, my dear Watson (or whatever Montalbano would say instead). If "ducci" was part of her (I'm guessing from "bedda") proper name, the only part of the phrase she wouldn't understand would be "nica." :)
     
    Makes sense to me. Case closed. 😁

    I also thought it'd be a diminutive form of tesoruccio > *ducci, but I'm pretty sure you're right (I'm not a native Sicilian speaker, though, and you seem to be much more into it than I am). Your readings have paid off quite well, I dare say.
     
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    Pietruzzo said:
    Mind you "duci" means sweet in Sicilian.
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    True -- I hadn't thought of that. That raises the question, then, of whether "nica" without a suffix can function as a noun, or whether three adjectives in a row would be used as an endearment. Alas, I remember nothing from Camilleri that would let me answer either of those questions. :D
     
    theartichoke said:
    That raises the question, then, of whether "nica" without a suffix can function as a noun, or whether three adjectives in a row would be used as an endearment.
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    Mine was just a side note to the discussion. I don't really know whether "bedda nica duci" makes sense in Sicilian and (above all) was what the OP used to be told.
     
    Dill Pickle said:
    My family is of Sicilian heritage on my mother's side. As a child my mother and grandmother would pinch my cheeks and say in a pleasant high pitched voice "bedda nica ducci." I know it was a pleasantry, but don't know what it means except the bedda part. I'm also not sure of the spelling. Anyone also familiar with this phrase?
    Click to expand...
    If you think the spelling "bedda nica duci" could be correct, I would translate that to : "Pretty, sweet toddler/young child".

    Nica is a young female child. I think the word can be used both as a noun and an adjective, though the noun is often changed to "nicaredda" to make it even more endearing. When I used to hear it in that context, I understood it as a noun. Baby is "picciruddu", toddler/young child "nicu", older child "carusu", adolescent/young adult "piciottu".
    If you feel the double cc consonant was very pronounced, then it might be possible it could have been misunderstood and would then be a diminutive or a regional variant that I've never heard of. Diminutives I usually heard were "etta" or "edda" but never "ucci" - I have never heard or seen that. I have heard "uzzu". They usually depend on the preceding vowel sound and will be adjusted to end in -a if feminine and -u if masculine.

    The diminutive for nica is nicaredda.

    From you discription, I understand your family members were pinching your cheeks saying the equivalent of "what a cutie-pie".
     
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