effe

Forms

effe f or m (invariable)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian efe and effi.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ef, the Latin name of the letter ⟨f⟩.^[1][3]

Nocentini traces the habit of naming consonants with a supporting vowel ⟨e⟩ back to Varro: the vowel came after the momentary consonants (⟨pe⟩, ⟨te⟩) and before the continuous ones (⟨ef⟩, ⟨en⟩).^[4] Tuscan, which does not allow a consonant at the end of a word, added a final vowel to the second group, which gave the names elle, emme, enne, erre and esse.^[4] DELI quotes Antonio Traina's remark that little is known about the names of the Italian letters, beyond the fact that bi, ci, di, effe, elle and emme reflect Tuscan pronunciation.^[5] Traina adds that the Egyptian papyri of the late Empire, which preserve school teaching, give the continuous consonants the names ⟨ipphe⟩, ⟨ille⟩ and ⟨imme⟩.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Libro vermiglio, a Florentine account book of 1333–1337, where the word names the sixth letter of the alphabet.^[2] In Old Italian the letter also served as an abbreviation for words beginning with f.^[2] DELI's first record is later, in Fazio degli Uberti (before 1367).^[5]

Semantic evolution

Besides the letter itself, the word names the written sign that stands for it.^[6][7] Florence was called la città dell'effe “the city of the F”, after the first letter of its name, in Pucci's Centiloquio.^[8] The 17th-century notes to the Malmantile suggested that sberleffe, a disgraceful gash on the face, came from berlina (the pillory) and effe, the letter once branded on criminals.^[9]

In music the effe is each of the two f-shaped openings cut in the soundboard of the violin and other bowed instruments.^[3][10][11]

Timeline

• 1333–1337 – The Libro vermiglio of Florence has the first record.^[2]
• Before 1367 – Fazio degli Uberti uses effe for the letter.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The name of the letter f and of the sound it stands for: Nella parola caffè ci sono due effe.^{[3][10][11][12]}
2. (music) An f-hole: each of the f-shaped openings in the soundboard of a violin or another bowed instrument.^[3][10][11]

Related words

• elle
• emme
• enne
• erre
• esse
• Latin ef

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 5, 49
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)