fenocchio

plural fenocchi

1. rareRare spelling of finocchio.First known use 18th–20th centuries

   […] Since buried she lay in a deep bed of Oysters, He’d live on “Fenocchi,” and die in his Cloisters! […]

   1860, Idea [pseud.], Lyrics and Legends of Rome, epilogue, “Storia dell’ Mas’ Aniello”, page 148

   5 more examples

   Pray aſk Mr. Synge whether his Fenocchio be grown; it is now fit to eat here, and we eat it like Sellary, either with or without Oil, &c.

   1727 July 1, Jonathan Swift, “Letter XVIII: from Dr. Swift to Dr. Sheridan”, in Miſcellanies, volume 10, published 1745, pages 110–111

   A boy is climbing up a wall to pick the golden oranges which are hanging over it; beneath, a flock of chickens are pecking at a sieve filled with almost more golden Indian maize; and through all this collection of life when we were there, the priest, in purple cassock and white pellerine, was moving from house to house, pronouncing his Easter benediction upon the furniture and cooking utensils, and followed by a man with a large basket to receive the dole of eggs, saffron-cakes, and fenocchi, which he expected in return.

   1895, Augustus John Cuthbert Hare, Days Near Rome, 3rd edition, volume 2, G. Routledge and sons, limited, page 241

   But at all times the place is worth a visit to those who can admire flat scenery, and the artist will delight in the Cuyp-like effects of the oxen and horses and groups of pilgrims (for some are here always) seen against the delicate aerial mountain distances; and in the beautiful colouring of the plain, pink with asphodel in spring, or golden with fenocchio.

   1911, Augustus John Cuthbert Hare [aut.] and Welbore St Clair Baddeley [ed.], Cities of Southern Italy (E.P. Dutton and company), page 162

   Most of his ‘town poetry’ was written in the village of Twickenham where, in between fits of composition, he was out in his garden looking to see how his broccoli were springing up, or if the ‘fenocchio’ was sprouting.

   1957, Margaret Renée Bryers Shaw, Laurence Sterne: The Making of a Humorist, 1713–1762 (Richards Press), page 47

   The novelties of fenocchio and broccoli seeds Swift probably got from Pope, who in turn may have had them recently from Italy by way of the Earl of Peterborow.

   1959, Henry Guppy, editor, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, volume 41, Manchester University Press, page 396