friso

Forms

friso m (plural frisos)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2] Wiktionary takes it as borrowed from French frise.^[1] Corominas does not decide: the word is related to the French one (recorded from 1544), to Medieval Latin frisium or frisum (“ornamental fringe”), to Italian fregio (“frieze”), to Old Occitan fres and Old Catalan fres (“frieze, border”), and finally to Arabic إفريز (ʔifrīz, “eaves, projection that keeps rain off a wall”).^[3][4] The late date and the /s/ show that Castilian took it from abroad, not directly from Arabic.^[3][4]

Dozy thought Europe had received the term from the Arabs; the Arabic word is old but itself of foreign origin, perhaps a mutilated Ancient Greek ζωφόρος (zōphóros, “frieze”).^[5][3] Corominas finds the Arabic route possible for Italian and Catalan but full of difficulties, and calls for a monograph.^[3] The older derivation from Latin Phrygius (“Phrygian”), through a Medieval Latin term for embroidery, is supported by Gómez de Silva, Bénaben and the DHLF, and already by Covarrubias, who took the word from the Italian one;^[6][7][8][9] Corominas finds it phonetically difficult everywhere except in Italian.^{[6][7][8][9][3]} García de Diego derives it from Frankish *frisi (“border, curl”).^[10] The Academy derived it from Arabic in 1884.^[11] In 1899 it gave a Medieval Latin source instead.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dictionary record is in Covarrubias (1611), who explains it from Italian fregio and says that architects call friso the space between the architrave and the cornice.^[9][3] Corominas notes that Las Casas (1570), Palencia, Nebrija and the medieval sources do not have the word.^[3] A spelling fresso, beside alquitrabe and cornija, appears in Lima in 1607.^[13] The CDH's earlier hits are the mythical name Frixo (Phrixus) and a personal name.^[14]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades gives the architectural sense, quoting Quevedo, and a second one: the covering of the lower wall against which the ladies' dais stood, once of palm matting and by then of paint or taffeta.^[15] The Academy has since defined this second sense as a band painted or covered along the lower part of a wall, of silk, rush matting or, later, painted paper, tiles or marble.^[16][2] Nineteenth-century dictionaries add a nautical sense, the space between the mouldings of a ship's stern, and an old sense “a slash across the face”.^[17][18] In Venezuela the word names the cement rendering given to a wall.^[19][2]

Timeline

• 1607 – the spelling fresso appears in Lima.^[13]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records friso and derives it from Italian fregio.^[9][4]
• 1616 – Oudin takes it from Covarrubias.^[3]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades gives the architectural sense and the wall band.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from Arabic.^[11]
• 1899 – the Academy derives it from Medieval Latin instead.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A band painted along the lower part of a wall in a different colour, or one of silk, rush matting, painted paper, tiles, marble and the like; a dado (zócalo).^[2][20]
2. (architecture) The frieze, the part of the entablature (entablamento) between the architrave and the cornice, often decorated with triglyphs and metopes.^[2][1]
3. (Venezuela) In building, the coat of cement mortar given to a wall as a finish.^[2][19]

Related words

• French frise
• Italian fregio
• alfiz

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. friso
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 962
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. friso
5. ^ Dozy, Reinhart; Engelmann, W. H. (1869), Glossaire des mots espagnols et portugais dérivés de l'arabe, 2nd ed., Leyde: Brill, p. 288
6. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 318
7. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. friso
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 866
10. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 2936
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 510
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 473
13. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. freso
14. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. friso
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 800
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 352
17. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 1047
18. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 533
19. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. friso
20. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. friso