Etymologically
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falso

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Pronunciation

Forms

falso (feminine falsa, masculine plural falsi, feminine plural false, superlative falsissimo); as a noun falso m (plural falsi)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin falsus (“false, mistaken”), originally the past participle of fallō (“to deceive”).[2][3][4][1] DELI notes that the adjective is the inherited word, while falsare, falsario and falsità are learned borrowings of Latin derivatives.[2] The same adjective gave French faux, Occitan fals, Catalan fals and Dalmatian fuals, and was borrowed into Spanish falso and Portuguese falso.[3][5] DEI adds that from Gallo-Romance it passed into German falsch.[6]

De Vaan derives fallō from Proto-Italic *fal-s-e/o- and connects it, with some doubt, with words for “stumble” such as Ancient Greek σφάλλω (sphállō, “to bring down”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)gʷʰh₂el- (“to stumble”): the sense would have moved from “to make stumble” to “to deceive”.[7][1] The older explanation from a root for “to lie” does not account for the vowel ⟨a⟩.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the word to 1180–1210, and the TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, of the end of the 12th century, with the sense “not truly what it seems”.[3][8] DELI's first record, with the sense “untrue”, is in Bonagiunta Orbicciani, before 1257.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the adjective already covered feelings that are pretended, ideas contrary to religious doctrine, statements that are untrue, people who lie or deceive, and objects made to imitate something precious or a forged document.[8] Guittone d'Arezzo uses it for “forged” before 1294, and Brunetto Latini uses the noun falso for “an untruth”.[2] The TLIO notes the phrase fare voci false “to sing in falsetto”, the source of falsetto (1542).[8][2]

In music it meant “out of tune” from Giovanni Della Casa (1551–1554), and the noun for a forged work of art is recorded before 1698.[2] DEI records the Latin scientific use “apparently like” in the 19th century, in scientific terms, a sense now usually given by pseudo-.[9] Italian falso passed into Turkish, and as falsu into the Arabic of Egypt and the Levant for counterfeit coin.[6][1]

Timeline

  • 1180–1210 – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur use falso.[3][8]
  • Before 1257 – Bonagiunta Orbicciani uses it for “untrue”.[2]
  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses it for “forged”.[2]
  • 1304–1308 – Dante uses the derivative falsificare.[2]
  • 1542 – Falsetto is recorded in Paolo Giovio.[2]
  • 1551–1554 – Giovanni Della Casa uses falso for “out of tune”.[2]
  • Before 1698 – It is recorded as a noun for a forged work of art.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. false, untrue, not matching the facts: un'accusa falsa.[4][10][11]
  2. Mistaken, wrong: Mi ero fatto un'idea falsa di lui.[4][10][11]
  3. fake, forged, counterfeit: Il passaporto era falso.[4][11][1]
  4. Insincere, hypocritical: un collega falso e invidioso, falsa modestia.[11][10][4]
  5. Out of tune; of a sound or light, altered or unnatural.[4][2]
  6. (anatomy, botany) Like another organ or species but different in origin: falsa costola, “false rib”.[11][4]

Noun

  1. What is untrue: Ha giurato il falso.[10][11][12]
  2. A forgery, a fake work of art or document: Il museo ha scoperto che la statua era un falso.[10][11][1]
  3. (law) The crime of forgery, as in falso in atto pubblico or falso in bilancio.[10][11]

Adverb

  1. Falsely, out of tune: suonare falso.[11][4]

Word family

  • falsità
  • falsare
  • falsario
  • falsificare
  • falsificazione
  • falsificatore
  • falsetto
  • falsariga
  • falsopiano
  • sfalsare
  • falsamente

Usage notes

Common phrases include falso allarme, falsa partenza and mettere in falsa luce, “to show in a false light”.[4] DEI also lists a mathematical falso “negative” (of a root) and the old regola del falso, a method of solving equations by trial values.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1590
  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. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1591
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  12. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana