farrago

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fəˈɹeɪɡoʊ/, /fəˈɹɑːɡoʊ/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin farrago (“mixed fodder, medley”),^[2][3][4][5] from Latin far (“spelt, emmer, grain”).^[2][3][4][5] It is related to farina.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A confused group or medley of material things or persons (1632).^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the word meant a mixed crop of feed grains for animals,^[3][5] and it was already used figuratively for a hodgepodge.^[2] In English the material sense is obsolete,^[6] and the word is used of confused mixtures of ideas, words or feelings (from 1637–50),^[6] as in a farrago of doubts, fears, hopes, and wishes.^[5]

Timeline

• 1632 – a confused group of things or persons.^[6][4]
• 1637–50 – a medley of immaterial things.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A confused mixture; a hodgepodge or medley.

Word family

• farraginous

Related words

• farina
• farro
• hodgepodge
• medley

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press