lésca
Venetian
Etymology 1
Rebracketing formed by the agglutination of the elided article l' (“the”) to Latin esca (“bait; tinder, kindling”).
Noun
lésca f (plural lésche)
- tinder, kindling
Etymology 2
Probably from a Germanic source and later influenced by the abovementioned meaning; compare Italian lisca (“fishbone”), French laîche (“sedge”) and German Liesch (“sedge”).
Noun
lésca f (plural lésche)
- any of various marsh plants, such as the sedge or the bulrush, which were reaped, dried and then sold as tinder.
Further reading
- Boerio, Giuseppe (1867), “lésca”, in Dizionario del dialetto veneziano, 3rd edition, Venice: G. Cecchini, page 366