Cicerone - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

CICERONE, a guide, one who conducts visitors to museums, galleries, &c., and explains matters of archaeological, antiquarian, historic or artistic interest. The word is presumably taken from Marcus Tullius Cicero, as a type of learning and eloquence. The New English Dictionary finds examples of the use earlier in English than Italian, the earliest quotation being from Addison's Dialogues on Medals (published posthumously 1726). It appears that the word was first applied to "learned antiquarians who show and explain to foreigners the antiquities and curiosities of the country" (quotation of 1762 in the New English Dictionary).