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Etymology and origin of the Catalan word fi

Catalan has two words spelled fi: the noun for the end, inherited from Latin, and the adjective "fine", whose origin is disputed.[1][2][3]

fi1 end

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1175–1224 Homilies d'Organyà
Inherited from
Latin finis
Ultimate origin
Latin fīnis
Etymology tree of fi1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin fīnis
Catalan fi
French fin
Romanian fin
Italian fine
Italian fino
Spanish fin
From the same root · fi1
Latin affīnis ← fīnis
Latin cōnfīnis ← fīnis
Latin fīnālis ← fīnis
Latin fīniō ← fīnis
Latin fīnitimus ← fīnis
Latin fīnus ← fīnis
Latin īnfīnitās ← fīnis
French enfin ← fin
Italian finché ← fino
Italian finora ← fino
Italian perfino ← fino
Spanish fino ← fin

Pronunciation

  • Balearic, Central, Northern, Northwestern, Valencia: [ˈfi][3]

Forms

fi f (plural fins)[3] In the Middle Ages and in the old dictionaries the noun was of either gender;[4] Llull always makes it feminine.[5][4] Today it is feminine for the end and masculine for an aim or purpose.[6]

Etymology

The word for the end is inherited from Latin fīnis (“boundary, limit; end”).[5][7][1][2][3]

The same Latin word is Occitan fin, French fin, Italian fine and Portuguese fim.[3][8] The form Spanish fin is a semi-learned descendant, and the feminine gender it had in the Middle Ages matches the Latin feminine.[9]

The origin of the Latin noun is disputed.[10][3] One view connects it with fīgō (“to fix”), as a boundary marker driven into the ground; others connect it with a root meaning "to strike", or with *bainą (“bone”), once perhaps an upright post.[10][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines dates the word to the origins of the language.[5] In the Homilies d'Organyà the priests pray for all Christians que Déus los aport a bona fi, "that God may bring them to a good end".[5][2][11]

Semantic evolution

By the 13th century the word had most of its present uses: a document of 1248 asks for justice tro a la fi del pleid, "until the end of the suit", and Llull writes sens fi "without end" and a la fi "in the end".[5][12] The end of life is an old sense too, as in a Christmas song asking the Virgin to stay with the singer lo jorn de ma fi.[13]

In medieval accounting a fi was a quittance, a deed declaring a debt settled: Muntaner received a carta de fi in 1325.[13] From the end aimed at came the sense of purpose, in Metge's a ffi que "so that" of 1381.[13] Labèrnia's dictionary of 1839 still gives the quittance and adds the balance of a pair of scales.[4] Fabra lists the noun as masculine and feminine, the DIEC2 as feminine for the end and masculine for the aim.[14][6]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – bona fi in the Homilies d'Organyà.[5][11]
  • 1242 – sens fi in a document from the Conca de Tremp.[5]
  • 1248 – tro a la fi del pleid, in a document from Sanaüja.[5]
  • 1325 – Muntaner's carta de fi, a quittance.[13]
  • 1330 – the derivative final is recorded.[1]
  • 1381 – Metge's a ffi que, expressing purpose.[13]
  • 1839 – Labèrnia's dictionary lists the word as of either gender.[4]
  • 1932 – Fabra's dictionary separates the feminine end from the masculine aim.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (feminine) The end, the point or moment at which something stops: Van llegir el llibre fins a la fi.[6][2]
  2. (feminine) The last part of something;[3] sens fi: endless;[3] un sens fi de: a great number of.[6]
  3. (feminine) The end of a life, death.[2][7]
  4. (feminine) mala fi: a great quantity, an excess.[6]
  5. (masculine) An aim or purpose, what an action tends to: el fi justifica els mitjans.[6][2]
  6. a la fi: at last;[3] en fi or per fi: finally, in short;[3] a fi de: in order to;[3] a fi que: so that.[6]

Word family

  • final
  • finalment
  • finalitat
  • finalitzar
  • finar
  • finat
  • finança
  • finir

fi2 fine, thin

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1094 a charter in the cartulary of Sant Cugat
Inherited from
Latin fidus
Ultimate origin
Latin fīdus
Etymology tree of fi2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin fīdus
Catalan fi
Italian fido
From the same root · fi2
Latin īnfīdus ← fīdus

Pronunciation

  • Balearic, Central, Northern, Northwestern, Valencia: [ˈfi][3]

Forms

fi (feminine fina, masculine plural fins, feminine plural fines)[3]

Etymology

The word for "fine" has a disputed origin.[15][1][2] Coromines, Bruguera and the GDLC think it more probably inherited from Latin fīdus (“faithful, trustworthy”), which regularly gave Old Occitan fi "faithful, sure" in the language of the troubadours, where it fell together with the noun for the end; from there the new adjective spread to the other Romance languages.[15][1][2] The same Latin adjective is Italian fido and Old French fi.[15]

The other explanation, which Wiktionary prefers, makes the adjective out of the Latin noun fīnis (“end, limit”), whose meaning would have gone from "end, limit" to "the utmost, perfect" and then "subtle, finished".[15][1][3] The DCVB starts from a Vulgar Latin adjective *fīnum (“extreme”), formed from fīniō (“to end, bring to the limit”).[7]

Coromines prefers the Latin word for "faithful" because the adjective appears first and with the most senses in Old Occitan and Old Catalan, and because it explains the irregular form of Portuguese fino and of the adjective in the other Romance languages.[15] That Latin adjective comes from *feiðos, from *bʰeydʰós.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Latin charter of 1094 in the cartulary of Sant Cugat, which speaks of duas libras de argent fi, "two pounds of fine silver".[15][2] A charter of 1120 has de fina plata.[15] Fine metal is one of the oldest and most stable uses of the word in Catalan.[15]

Semantic evolution

Besides pure gold and silver, the medieval texts speak of fine pearls and precious stones, and of fine weights and measures in the 14th-century ordinances of Barcelona and Mallorca.[15] An equally old use concerns the loyalty and purity of people and feelings: the rhymed legends of the Bible of Seville say that whoever bears Judas's marks will not be trop fi ne leyals, "very faithful or loyal", and Muntaner and Ausiàs March speak of the fins amants and of fin' amor.[15] Coromines sees in this sense of steadfastness the basis of the uses for metals, weapons and jewels.[15] Llull uses the adjective only in per fina força, "of necessity".[12]

The derivatives finesa (1368), finor (16th century) and refinar (1575) are recorded early;[16] afinar goes back to Llull.[1] In popular speech the commonest sense is that of a thin cloth rather than one of high quality.[15] The dictionary of 1803 gives "pure, perfect", "delicate, subtle", "constant, faithful" and "astute".[16] The GDLC labels the sense "extreme, reaching the limit" as old.[2]

Timeline

  • 1094 – argent fi in a Latin charter of the cartulary of Sant Cugat.[15][2]
  • 1120 – fina plata in another charter.[15]
  • Late 13th century – Llull's per fina força.[12]
  • 1292 – a Roussillon ordinance punishes work not made of fin argent.[15]
  • 1368 – the derivative finesa.[1]
  • 1803 – the dictionary of Esteve, Bellvitges and Juglà gives “constant, faithful” beside “pure” and “subtle”.[16]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Divided into very small particles: farina fina.[2][17]
  2. thin, of little thickness; slender and delicate: un fil fi.[2][17]
  3. smooth, soft to the touch or the ear: mans fines.[2]
  4. Of extreme purity: plata fina.[2][17]
  5. Of excellent quality, made with great care: un oli fi.[2][17]
  6. refined, in good taste; elegant in manners.[2]
  7. Exact, precise; keen of the senses: fi d’orella.[2]
  8. (archaic) Extreme, reaching the limit.[2]

Adverb

  1. With subtlety and skill: cosir fi.[17]

Word family

  • afinar
  • desafinar
  • refinar
  • refinat
  • finament
  • finesa
  • finor
  • superfí
  • afí
  • confí
  • definir
  • infinit
  • Latin fīnis
  • Latin fīdus
  • Old Occitan fi

Usage notes

Fi is also the name of the Greek letter φ, feminine with the plural fis; it is a separate borrowing of Latin phi, from Ancient Greek φεῖ (pheî).[3][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 396
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. fi
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c d Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. fi
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 998
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. fi
  7. ^ a b c Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. fi
  8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 900
  10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  11. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. fi
  12. ^ a b c Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. fi
  13. ^ a b c d e Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. fi
  14. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. fi
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 1002
  16. ^ a b c Esteve, Joaquim; Bellvitges, Josep; Juglà, Antoni (1803–1805), Diccionario catalán-castellano-latino, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. fi
  17. ^ a b c d e Institut d'Estudis Catalans (1995), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Edicions 62 / Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. s.v. fi

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Fi.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ca/fi. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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