confetto

Forms

confetto m (plural confetti)^[1] Old forms include confecto, confeto and Milanese confegi.^[2][3]

Etymology

For DELI, Nocentini, GRADIT, Zingarelli and the TLIO it is inherited from Latin cōnfectus (“prepared, made”), the past participle of cōnficiō (“to prepare, make, finish”), formed from con- and faciō (“to make”).^{[4][5][6][7][2][1]} The adjective “prepared, candied” came first, and the noun is that adjective used as a noun.^[8][2]

Others see a loan: Meyer-Lübke, Devoto and Devoto–Oli consider it borrowed from French confit, the past participle of confire (“to candy”), and DEI holds the modern sense to be an adaptation of the French word.^{[9][10][11][12]} The LEI notes that the FEW prefers a Latin base continued in several Romance areas, because the Italian and Portuguese forms, the latter confeito, are hard to trace to the French one.^[13] The related words are Catalan confit, Old Occitan confech, Spanish confite and Engadine confet.^[13][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Milanese poems of Bonvesin de la Riva (late 13th century), as confegi, in the medical sense of a pill or lozenge made by cooking a drug in sugar or honey.^[2][3] DELI dates the general sense “sweet” to Malispini's chronicle, of the 13th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian confetto was first an adjective, “compounded, cooked in sugar or honey”, said of spices, anise, coriander, ginger and fruit; as a noun it meant a sweet in general, a sweet given at weddings, and a medicine cooked in sugar.^[2][13] In Boccaccio someone is comforted “with a little good wine and confetto”.^[14][8] Giovanni dalle Celle (before 1396) has the medicinal sense.^[4]

The modern sense, a sugared almond, pistachio or hazelnut handed out at christenings, confirmations and weddings, is dated from Lippi (before 1665); hence mangiare i confetti “to celebrate a wedding”.^[4][15][8] Joking uses followed: confetti di piombo are bullets, and a shower of stones or hailstones is confetti.^[7][8] A pale pink or blue is rosa or azzurro confetto.^[6][11]

At Italian carnivals revellers pelted each other with small pellets of lime or plaster called confetti, in place of the sugared sweets once thrown; the English word confetti (1815) took this sense, and later that of paper scraps.^[16] French confetti (1841) first named the pellets of the Nice carnival, then paper scraps.^[17][5] German Konfetti also means paper scraps.^[17]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Bonvesin de la Riva uses confegi.^[2]
• 13th century – Malispini uses it for a sweet.^[4]
• 1304–1308 – Sienese account books use confetto as an adjective.^[13]
• Before 1396 – Giovanni dalle Celle has the medicinal sense.^[4]
• Before 1665 – Lippi uses it for the sugared almond of weddings.^[4]
• 1815 – English confetti is first recorded.^[16][17]
• 1841 – French confetti is recorded for the plaster pellets of the Nice carnival.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sugared almond: an almond, hazelnut or pistachio coated in sugar, given out at christenings, confirmations and weddings: a quando i confetti?, when is the wedding?^{[6][11][18][1]}
2. By extension, any small sweet shaped like one.^[6]
3. (pharmacy) A sugar-coated pill.^{[6][11][19][1]}
4. (jocular, usually plural) Bullets, stones or large hailstones.^[6][11][19]
5. (archaic, usually plural) Sweets in general.^[11][19][20]

Adjective

1. Of a very pale and delicate shade, especially of pink or blue: rosa confetto.^[6][11]
2. (archaic) Candied, prepared in sugar.^[6][8]

Word family

• confetteria
• confettiera
• confettiere
• confettino

Related words

• confettare
• confettura
• confezione
• French confit
• English confetti

Usage notes

Confetto is also the first person singular of the present of confettare (io confetto).^[1][20] In old literary usage motto confetto is another name for the frottola, a kind of poem.^[2][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 320
4. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1056
13. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 16, 1313
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
16. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
17. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
18. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
19. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
20. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana