falce

Forms

falce f (plural falci)^[1] Old forms include falza, falcia, falça and falsa.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin falx (“sickle, scythe”), from the accusative falcem.^[4][5][6][1] The word is pan-Romance: French faux, Occitan faus, Catalan fals, Spanish hoz, Portuguese fouce, Sardinian falke, Friulian fals and Romanian falce, which means “a large quantity”, beside falcă (“jaw”).^[5][7]

DELI and Zingarelli call the Latin word pre-Indo-European, and Nocentini a pre-Latin substrate word.^[4][8][5] Nocentini still accepts Niedermann's idea that it is connected with Ancient Greek ζάγκλον (zánklon, “sickle”), a substrate word recorded by Greek historians that gave Ancient Greek Ζάγκλη (Zánklē), the old name of Messina, from the curved shape of its bay; both the Greek name and Latin falcula would adapt one original substrate form.^[5] DEI likewise sees the Latin word as taken from the diminutive-looking form, and this as a Ligurian–Sicanian relic, probably passed on through Etruscan.^[9] De Vaan finds the connection with the Sicilian name too uncertain; he notes that a comparison with Old Irish delg and Old Norse dálkr fits the meaning but not the Latin sounds, so that the Latin word can at most be a borrowing from a non-Latin Indo-European language of Italy.^[10] Wiktionary instead traces it to Proto-Indo-European *dʰelg-.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Italian record in the TLIO is in the Roman Miracole de Roma, from the middle of the 13th century, with the sense “farm tool with a curved blade and a wooden handle for cutting crops and grass”.^[2] Medieval Latin falza is recorded at Bologna in 1285, and DELI's first Italian record is in Bono Giamboni, before 1292.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already distinguished the falce fienaia, a long-handled scythe for hay, from the short sickle for corn, used the blade as a weapon, and named the curved part of a horse's hind legs after it.^[2] The scythe was the attribute of Death and the pagan gods, and mettere la falce nella messe altrui, “to put one's sickle in another's harvest”, meant to meddle in what belongs to others.^[2][11] Petrarch speaks of reaping burrs and thorns colla falce adunca, “with the hooked sickle”.^[11]

The thin crescent of the new moon is a falce from before 1502, in Antonio Cammelli.^[4] In 1914 falce ardente was used for a machine gun, by a metaphor from falciare, “to mow down”.^[9] In the 20th century falce e martello became the emblem of socialist and communist parties, standing for the work of peasants and workers.^[12][8] Anatomy uses the word for the folds of the dura mater between the halves of the brain.^[13][14]

Derivatives include falcione, a large scythe and a weapon (Medieval Latin falçonus, 1239, Italian before 1363), falciatore (before 1449), falciare (before 1571), falcetto (1716) and falciatrice, the mowing machine (1876).^[4][5]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – Falce appears in the Roman Miracole de Roma.^[2]
• 1285 – Medieval Latin falza is recorded at Bologna.^[4]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses falce and falcato “armed with a scythe”.^[4]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses falcione.^[4]
• Before 1502 – Antonio Cammelli uses falce for the crescent moon.^[4]
• Before 1571 – The verb falciare appears in Giovan Battista Strozzi.^[4]
• 1876 – Falciatrice is recorded for the mowing machine.^[4]
• 1914 – Falce ardente “machine gun” appears in Morasso.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sickle or scythe: a farm tool with a curved blade on a wooden handle for cutting grass and cereals; in art an attribute of Time and Death.^[6][13][14]
2. (historical) An ancient weapon with a curved blade on a long shaft.^[6][14][15]
3. A shape or object like a sickle: falce di luna, the crescent moon.^[6][13][8]
4. (zoology) The arched part of a horse's hind legs.^[6][13][14]
5. (anatomy) A fold of the dura mater between the two halves of the brain or of the cerebellum: falce cerebrale.^[13][14][8]

Word family

• falcetto
• falcata
• falcato
• falciare
• falciata
• falciatore
• falciatrice
• falciatura
• falcione
• falcino
• falciola

Related words

• Latin falx
• French faux

Usage notes

Falce e martello, the hammer and sickle, is the emblem of Marxist parties.^[13][8] Il grano è alla falce says that the corn is ripe for mowing, and mettere la falce nel campo altrui means to interfere in others' affairs.^[6][15] A Tuscan proverb says Giugno, la falce in pugno, “June, sickle in hand”.^[11][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
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 d e f g h i j k 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 d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1585
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana