fagiolo

Forms

fagiolo m (plural fagioli, diminutive fagiolétto or fagiolìno, augmentative fagiolóne, pejorative fagiolàccio)^[1] The literary form is fagiuolo; old forms include fasciuolo, faggiuolo and faiuolo, and northern faxol and fasol.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin phaseolus (“bean”), a diminutive of phasēlus, which is from Ancient Greek φάσηλος (phásēlos, “bean”).^[5][6][7][1] The treatment of the Latin /sj/ shows that the word came into Tuscan through the northern dialects: the northern voiced fricative /ʒ/ was replaced in Tuscany by /dʒ/.^[8][9]

The same word is Occitan faisol, Catalan fesol, Spanish frijol and Portuguese feijão.^[6] Meyer-Lübke adds Dalmatian fasol, Sicilian fasola and Logudorese bazolu;^[10] Italian fagiuolo passed through Lyon into French flageolet.^[10] The word is pan-Romance except in Romanian, whose Romanian fasole comes from Modern Greek.^[11][10] Modern Greek φασούλι (fasoúli) passed in turn into Turkish, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian and Albanian.^[10]

The origin of the Greek word is unclear.^[5] Beekes thinks the Latin word probably a loan from Greek, but notes that Pisani took the Greek word as a loan from Italic, related to Ancient Greek φακός (phakós, “lentil”), and that others assumed a Mediterranean or Pre-Greek origin;^[12][6] Nocentini also connects it with the Greek word for lentil.^[12][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the plural faxoli in a Veronese document of about 1205, naming the plant and its edible seeds.^[5][4][6] The Tuscan forms follow: fasciuolo in Pistoian texts of about 1300 and fagiuolo in Boccaccio, who died in 1375.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Until the 17th century fagioli were the black-eyed beans already known to the Romans, named for the black spot around the hilum; the name then passed to the common bean brought from America after its discovery.^[5][6][2] German borrowed the word as Faseln (1508).^[13]

Through the plural “testicles” the word took the sense “fool” in the 16th century;^[11] fagiolaccio followed in the 17th century, with fagiolata “nonsense”.^[11] Andare a fagiolo, to be to one's liking, is recorded in the 18th century.^[11] In university slang the fagiolo is the second-year student, no longer a freshman (1935, Panzini); Nocentini traces this sense, like andare a fagiolo, to an obscene double meaning.^[5][6] The diminutive fagiolino “green bean” is recorded in 1721.^[5]

Timeline

• About 1205 – The plural faxoli appears in a document from Verona.^[5][4]
• About 1300 – Fasciuolo appears in Pistoian texts.^[5]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses fagiuolo.^[5]
• 1508 – German Faseln is recorded.^[13]
• 1700s – Andare a fagiolo is recorded.^[11]
• 1721 – Fagiolino “green bean” is recorded.^[5]
• 1935 – Panzini records fagiolo “second-year student”.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. bean, the plant: an annual climbing or bush plant of the legume family (Phaseolus vulgaris), originally from America.^[7][2][14]
2. The edible seed of this plant: pasta e fagioli.^[7][2][8]
3. (medicine) A kidney-shaped basin used in hospitals and surgeries.^[7][2]
4. (in the plural, uncommon) The testicles of a cockerel.^[7][2]
5. (student slang) A second-year university student.^[7][2][14]
6. (figurative) A simpleton.^[8][11]

Word family

• fagiolino
• fagiolata
• fagiolone
• fagiolaio
• fagioliera
• sfagiolare

Related words

• Latin phaseolus
• French flageolet

Usage notes

Andare a fagiolo means to suit someone's taste, and capitare a fagiolo to come at just the right time.^[14][2][15] Fagiolo dall'occhio is the black-eyed bean.^[2][14]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 176
10. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1582
12. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli