faggeto

Forms

faggeto m (plural faggeti)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian faggio + -eto, the suffix of collective names for woods and plantations.^[2][1] It matches Latin fagetum (“beech wood”), formed from fāgus (“beech”) with -ētum, and may continue a spoken *fāgētum.^[1] The GDLI derives it from the Latin word, reshaped after the Italian tree name.^[3] DEI calls the feminine faggeta an Italian formation on the model of the Latin word, which survives in southern Italian ⟨fajitu⟩ and in Tuscan place names of the type ⟨Faeto⟩, ⟨Faieta⟩ from the 10th century.^[4] DELI thinks the feminine was modelled on pineta.^[5]

faggio itself continues fāgeus (“of beech”), an adjective of the Latin tree name, which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵos (“beech”).^[5][6][1] Its cognates include Ancient Greek φηγός (phēgós), a kind of oak, and Old High German buohha (“beech”).^[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the first record to before 1470.^[2] The GDLI's earliest quotation is from Luca Pulci, who writes of heads sticking out of the scrub “as you would say in a wood or a beech grove” (come dicessi per bosco, o faggeto).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has not changed: a wood of beech trees.^[2][8] Bembo pairs faggeti with chestnut and oak woods, and in the 19th century Giusti describes climbing through chestnut woods and then beech woods, since above a certain height the chestnut does not grow.^[3] The feminine faggeta, recorded from 1773, is now the more usual word, and dictionaries define faggeto by it.^{[6][9][10][2]}

Timeline

• 10th century – Tuscan place names of the type Faeto are recorded.^[4]
• Before 1470 – First record of faggeto.^[2]
• 1773 – The feminine faggeta appears in Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti.^[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wood of beech trees, a beechwood; the same as faggeta: Sul crinale il faggeto lascia il posto ai pascoli.^{[2][9][10][1]}

Related words

• faggio
• faggeta
• Latin fagus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 5, 622
4. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1582
5. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli