falco

Forms

falco m (plural falchi)^[1] Old Italian also wrote falcho and falcu.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin falcō, the nominative of a Late Latin noun whose accusative falcōnem gave falcone.^[3][4][5] Nocentini explains the pair: Italian came to read the longer form as an augmentative, so both survived.^[4]

DELI and Nocentini connect it with Latin falx (“sickle”), after the curved beak (DELI) or the hooked talons (Nocentini), a link the ancients already made, as Paulus' epitome of Festus shows.^[3][4] DEI adds that the name Falco is recorded as a Roman personal name from 193, given to people whose fingers were bent like a sickle, and suggests it may copy an Etruscan word that meant both things.^[6] Meyer-Lübke noted that the word first appears in Firmicus Maternus about 300 and is missing in North Germanic, and took it to be Latin.^[7] Wiktionary instead holds a Germanic origin probable, given the early and wide use of the word in Germanic, and treats the link with falx as folk etymology.^[1] Zaccaria reports Kluge's view that the Germanic word came first, and Latin and Romance took it from there.^[8]

The Latin word lives on across Romance except in Romanian: Old French fauc and faucon (modern French faucon), Occitan fauc, Spanish halcón and Portuguese falcão.^[4][6][7] It passed into Old High German falcho, the source of German Falke.^[4]

The political sense “advocate of a hard line” is a calque of American English hawk, set against colomba “dove”.^[3][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in a poem by the Florentine Pallamidesse Bellindote, written before 1280, for the bird of prey with long narrow wings, a strong hooked beak and curved talons.^[2] DELI dates the word to the 13th century with Monte Andrea.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The bird was prized in medieval hunting, and the derivatives grew around falcone, the larger hunting bird: falconiere “falconer” is in Dante, and falconeria “falconry” appears in the late 15th century.^[3][4] The Novellino, Bono Giamboni and Dante already use falco.^[8]

From the bird's sharp sight came occhi di falco, keen, piercing eyes.^[5][11][10] Tommaseo in 1869 recorded the figurative use for a lively, bold and cunning man or woman, and for a man who lies in wait for a woman's honour.^[3][11] The political sense, a supporter of force or of a hard line in international disputes, came in 1966 as a calque of American English hawk, with colomba “dove” as its opposite.^[3][12]

Timeline

• Before 1280 – Pallamidesse Bellindote uses falco for the bird of prey.^[2]
• 13th century – Falcone appears in Bonagiunta.^[3]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses falconiere “falconer”.^[3]
• Late 15th century – Falconeria “falconry” is recorded.^[3][4]
• 1622 – The diminutive falchetto is recorded.^[4]
• 1869 – Tommaseo records falco for a lively, bold and cunning person.^[3][11]
• 1966 – Falco is used for a supporter of a hard-line policy.^[3][12]

Meanings

Noun

1. falcon, hawk: a bird of prey with long pointed wings, a strong hooked beak and powerful talons, of the genus Falco; also a name for other birds of prey such as the honey buzzard (falco pecchiaiolo) and the osprey (falco pescatore).^[5][9][13]
2. (figurative) A person of proud, bold character and quick, sharp intelligence; also a rapacious, cunning person: Al tavolo delle trattative si è rivelato un vero falco.^[5][10][14]
3. (politics, figurative) A hawk: a supporter of a hard, uncompromising line, if need be of military force, in international or political disputes; the opposite of a colomba.^{[5][9][12][15]}

Word family

• falcone
• falchetto
• falconeria
• falconiere
• falconiera
• girifalco

Related words

• falce
• colomba
• Latin falx
• French faucon
• German Falke

Usage notes

Occhi di falco or vista da falco means very keen eyesight.^[5][15] An obsolete falco, a term of horsemanship for a falcata, is a separate word formed from the verb falcare; it is recorded in the 16th century in Grisone and passed into French as falque.^[6][16][11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1586
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca