baggiano

Forms

baggiano (feminine baggiana, masculine plural baggiani, feminine plural baggiane)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian baggiana (“broad bean”), the name of a large broad bean, through the obscene sense “penis” that the names of beans and pods often take.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Nocentini notes that such words are widely used, like other words for the genitals, as an effective and offensive way of calling someone a fool.^[3] Tommaseo compared baccello and baccellone.^[2][8]

The bean name goes back to Latin Bāiāna with faba (“bean”), “bean of Baiae”, a town near Naples, from Baiae with the suffix -ānus.^[2][3][1][9] The LEI suggests that the beans owed the name to their size or to the soaking they needed before cooking.^[9]

DELI calls it a word found in the south and in Sardinia, while Battisti and Alessio take it for a central and northern word that the southern dialects imported.^[2][7] Prati thought the Italian word might come from Lombard bagiàn.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Salvator Rosa, before 1650, in the sense “foolish, simpleton”: Re più baggiano mai nè più ribaldo “never a king more foolish or more wicked”.^[2][4][8]

Semantic evolution

The word was older in the dialects: Milanese bagian, “a man of little sense but big in body”, is in the Varon milanes of 1606, and Neapolitan baggiano meant “vain, fond of show” in 1646.^[2][9] The bean was still known: in 1715 Salvini wrote of quelle fave grosse che fanno lungo le acque di Baia nel regno di Napoli “those large beans that grow along the waters of Baia in the kingdom of Naples”.^[2][11] Dar baggiane meant “to tell tall tales”.^[10]

Goldoni lines the word up with other insults: uno stolido, un pazzo, un baccellone, un baggiano.^[11] Manzoni in the Promessi sposi (1840–1842) made it famous: in Bergamo, then under Venice, the people of the State of Milan were called baggiani, and Manzoni devotes a digression to the word.^[2][11] From the noun came baggianata “foolish act or remark” (before 1789, Baretti).^[2]

Timeline

• 1st century AD – Apicius names baianas, beans of Baiae, in his cookery.^[9]
• 15th century – Fava baggiana appears in the Canti carnascialeschi.^[2][10]
• 1606 – Milanese bagian is recorded in the Varon milanes.^[2][9]
• 1646 – Neapolitan baggiano “vain” is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1650 – Salvator Rosa uses baggiano “fool”.^[2][4]
• Before 1789 – Baretti uses baggianata.^[2]
• 1840–1842 – Manzoni's Promessi sposi discuss baggiani as a name for the Milanese.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Foolish, gullible, easily taken in: Non essere così baggiano.^{[4][12][5][13][1]}

Noun

1. A simpleton, a fool, a babbeo.^{[4][12][13][14]}
2. (historical) A nickname that the people of Bergamo, under Venetian rule, gave in the 17th century to the inhabitants, especially the peasants, of the State of Milan.^{[4][12][5][14]}

Word family

• baggianata
• baggianeria
• baggianesco

Related words

• baggiana
• baccellone
• fava
• Latin faba

Usage notes

Treccani gives the diminutive baggianello and the pejorative baggianaccio.^[13][5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 404
8. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 4, 440
10. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 97
11. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli