falsare

Forms

falsare (first-person singular present fàlso, first-person singular past historic falsài, past participle falsàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian falzare and spellings with ⟨ç⟩ such as falçato.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin falsāre (“to falsify”), a verb found in Irenaeus, formed from Latin falsus (“false”).^[4][5][1][6] Zingarelli and the GDLI call the Italian word learned.^[7][8] The Late Latin verb also gave Sardinian falsare in Logudorese, French fausser and Occitan falsar, and Catalan falsar, from which Spanish falsar and Portuguese falsar were taken.^[9][6] In Old French the verb also meant “to prove false” and, of armour, “to break, pierce”.^[9]

The Latin adjective is the past participle of fallō (“to deceive”).^[10][1][2] Devoto describes the Italian verb as an intensive of the Latin verb, and Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti derive it from that verb directly.^[11][12][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a document from Osimo dated 1151, the date Nocentini also gives.^[3][4] DELI's first dated sense, “to represent something otherwise than it is”, is from Frederick II, before 1250.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used falsare for fraud of many kinds: forging a document, altering metals by alchemy, minting or clipping coins below their value, and cheating on the measure of goods.^[3] Dante's forger in Hell says falsai li metalli con alchimia (“I falsified metals by alchemy”), and Giovanni Villani writes of bakers who cheated the commune falsando la misura e 'l peso del pane (“falsifying the measure and weight of bread”).^[8] It also meant to betray, to break faith or a promise, to be unfaithful in love, to deceive, to show something to be false, and to damage or break something by a heavy blow, the sense Old French fausser has of armour.^[3][9]

In modern Italian the main sense is to misrepresent facts, data or someone's words.^[13][12] The sense “to forge” is now uncommon or literary, falsificare having taken it over.^[12][2][14] Newer senses are to distort the result of a sporting competition, as unfair refereeing may do, and in tailoring to trim a garment with false pieces (falsature).^[12][15][13]

Timeline

• 1151 – falsare is first recorded, in a document from Osimo.^[3][4]
• 12th century – the form falzare is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1250 – Frederick II uses the verb for misrepresenting something.^[5][13]
• 1306–1307 – Dante's Inferno has falsai li metalli con alchimia.^[8]
• 14th century – falsamento, falsatore and the participle falsato are recorded.^[6]
• 19th century – falsatura and falsatrice are recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To report or represent something otherwise than it is or than the original; to distort, misrepresent: Quel giornalista ha falsato le mie dichiarazioni.^[13][12][2]
2. To interpret or apply a law or text so as to twist its substance.^[13][12]
3. (uncommon) To forge, counterfeit: falsare un testamento.^[13][12][2]
4. To influence the course of a competition so that its result is unfair: Un rigore inventato ha falsato la partita.^[12][15]
5. (tailoring) To trim a garment with falsature.^[13][12][14]
6. (art) Falsare la propria maniera: to force one's own style by imitating one's earlier work.^[13][16]

Word family

• falsamento
• falsatore
• falsatura
• sfalsare

Related words

• falso
• falsario
• falsificare
• Latin falsus
• French fausser

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1590
7. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ 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, 608
9. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 176
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b 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. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)