famoso

Forms

famoso (feminine famosa, masculine plural famosi, feminine plural famose, superlative famosissimo)^[1] Old Italian forms include southern famuso and famusu.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin fāmōsus (“much talked of; notorious”), formed fāma (“report, reputation”) and -ōsus (“full of”).^{[3][4][5][1][6]} The Latin adjective often meant “of bad repute”, and Devoto thinks its Italian sense was reshaped by fama.^[7][8] The same word is Romanian faimos, Occitan famos, Spanish famoso and Portuguese famoso, and French fameux, recorded from the 15th century.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Roman Storie de Troia e de Roma of 1252–1258.^[2] DELI dates the sense “celebrated, illustrious” to Bono Giamboni, before 1292.^[11] From the start the word was used both of good fame and of people known for wicked deeds.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Dante greets Virgil as famoso saggio, “famous sage”, in the first canto of the Inferno, and Petrarch and Boccaccio use the word freely.^[12] The bad sense lasted in the phrase libello famoso, a defamatory pamphlet, now archaic.^[3][5][7] Old Italian also had a noun famosità, “fame”, from the 14th century.^[10]

Modern Italian adds an ironic use for a person or thing much talked about that disappoints, or for something promised and long awaited.^[3][5][7] Zingarelli contrasts famoso, said of any fame, with famigerato, for bad fame, and illustre, which stresses merit.^[13] English recorded famoso as a rare noun in 1663.^[14]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – First record, in the Storie de Troia e de Roma.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the word for “illustrious”.^[11]
• 1300–1321 – Dante calls Virgil famoso saggio.^[12]
• 14th century – Famosità “fame” appears.^[10]
• 1663 – English famoso is recorded as a rare noun.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. famous, renowned, celebre; also with per: È diventata famosa con il suo primo romanzo.^{[3][5][15][1]}
2. Of a thing, widely known; of an event, memorable: un quadro famoso.^[3][5]
3. (ironic) Much talked of, and often disappointing: E questo sarebbe il famoso ristorante di cui parlano tutti?^[3][5][15] Also of something long awaited: Quando arriva questo famoso rimborso?^[3][5]
4. (archaic) Defamatory, as in libello famoso.^[3][5][7]

Word family

• famosamente
• famosità

Related words

• fama
• famigerato
• Latin famosus
• French fameux

Usage notes

The ⟨s⟩ is pronounced either /z/ or /s/.^[1][13][15] Le ultime parole famose (“famous last words”) mocks a confident statement that proves wrong.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1592
11. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse