fanfaluca

Forms

fanfaluca f (plural fanfaluche)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin famfalūca (“air bubble”), a word of glosses of the 8th century.^[2][3][4] The Latin word adapts Ancient Greek πομφόλυξ (pomphólux, “bubble, blister”), from its accusative πομφόλυγα (pomphóluga).^[2][3][1] Nocentini derives the Greek noun from πομφός (pomphós, “bubble, pustule”).^[3] He notes that the first syllable was rendered as in fanfano.^[3] DELI and Zingarelli call the Greek word expressive in origin, and Sabatini–Coletti onomatopoeic.^[2][5][6]

The word is well represented in the Italian dialects.^[4] French fanfreluche (“frill, trifle”) goes back to it, recorded as Old French fanfelue in the 12th century, perhaps under Italian influence.^[4][3][1] Prati takes the French word, which he dates to 1534, from Italian.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in Florentine statutes of the first half of the 14th century and in Andrea Lancia (1355–1356), where fanfaluca is a kind of sweet pastry made of thin layers like puff pastry.^[8][2][9]

Semantic evolution

The sense “trifle, tall tale, nonsense” is first recorded in Pietro Aretino in 1536.^[2][3] Tommaseo cites Varchi for fanfaluche as things of no substance, and Salviati's fanfaluche d'innamorati (“lovers' nonsense”).^[10] The sense “flake of ash”, a fragment of burnt paper or straw that rises into the air, is found in Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger in 1618.^[2][10] Tommaseo heard the sound of the word as imitating something light, and saw -uca as a disparaging diminutive ending.^[10]

Old dictionaries record the derivatives fanfalucola “flake of ash”, famfalucare “to talk nonsense” and fanfaluco “teller of tall tales”.^[7] In modern Italian the word chiefly means a trifle, idle chatter or a whim, often in the plural; the pastry and ash senses are old.^[9][11][5]

Timeline

• 8th century – Late Latin famfaluca is recorded in glosses.^[4]
• 12th century – Old French fanfelue is recorded.^[4]
• First half of the 14th century – Florentine statutes record fanfaluche, a kind of pastry.^[8]
• 1355–1356 – Andrea Lancia uses the word for a pastry wafer.^[2][9]
• 1534 – French fanfreluche is recorded.^[7]
• 1536 – Pietro Aretino uses fanfaluca for a tall tale or trifle.^[2][3]
• 1618 – Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger uses it for a flake of ash.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A trifle, a thing of no account; by extension idle chatter, a tall tale, nonsense: Non dargli retta, sono tutte fanfaluche.^[9][11][6]
2. A whim, a fanciful idea: Ha la testa piena di fanfaluche.^[11][5][12]
3. (archaic) A light flake of burnt paper, straw or ash that rises into the air from a fire.^[9][11][13]
4. (archaic) A sweet pastry made of thin layers, like puff pastry.^[9][6][5]

Related words

• fandonia
• Late Latin famfaluca
• Ancient Greek πομφόλυξ (pomphólux)
• French fanfreluche

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1593
5. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 421
8. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 2, 644
11. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)