fante

Forms

fante m or f by sense (plural fanti)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin īnfāns (“infant, child”), from its accusative, with the loss of the first syllable.^[2][3][4][1] The GDLI calls it a semi-learned word.^[5] The Latin word meant, strictly, “one who does not yet speak”: it is formed in- (“not”) and fāns (“speaking”), the present participle of for (“to speak”).^[3][6][1] The prefix also fell in the Italian dialects, but stayed in the other Romance languages: French enfant, Catalan enfant, Spanish infante and Portuguese infante.^[7][3][8] The full form survives in Italian as the doublet infante.^[1]

From “child” the word passed to “boy, servant”, and in the army to “soldier” and then “foot soldier”.^[3][5] An 18th-century note to the Malmantile, quoted by DELI, explains that when the cavalry came to count for more than the infantry, the man on foot was seen as the horseman's servant and was named accordingly.^[2][9] In Spain and Portugal the word went another way, to a young nobleman and then a son of the king.^[3]

Zingarelli and Gabrielli derive the military sense from Gothic *fanþja (“foot soldier”).^[10][11] Meyer-Lübke accepted this, following Brüch, but noted that Diez had derived it from the Latin word for child, which he found harder in meaning.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, a poem from the Marche of the late 12th century, for a newborn child: Poi lu fante foe natu (“then the child was born”).^[2][12][5]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word went from “child” to “boy, young man” and to “servant, errand boy”: DELI dates the sense of servant from 1261 and that of young man from Rustico Filippi, before 1300.^[2][12] Dante still used it for a baby still at the breast, in Paradiso XXXIII.^[4][5] The feminine fante was a maidservant, recorded from 1281–1300 in the Novellino, and in Lucca the word could also mean a woman of low repute.^[2][13][14]

The sense of foot soldier is recorded in Dino Compagni in 1310–12.^[2] It later fell from common use except in fanteria and for the figure on playing cards, the jack, which is recorded in 1475.^[2][15] During the First World War the literary word came back, in phrases such as i nostri valorosi fanti (“our brave infantrymen”), and Bruno Migliorini noted that the honour given to the infantry restored it.^[2] German borrowed it as Fant, a young fellow, recorded in 1825.^[16]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The Ritmo di Sant'Alessio uses fante for a child.^[2][12]
• 1261 – The sense of servant is recorded.^[2][16]
• 1281–1300 – The Novellino uses the feminine for a maidservant.^[2]
• Before 1300 – Rustico Filippi uses it for a young man.^[2]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses it for a foot soldier.^[2]
• 1475 – The jack of playing cards is recorded, in the plural fanti.^[2]
• 1825 – German Fant, a young fellow, is recorded.^[16]
• 1918 – Panzini notes the revival of fante for infantryman during the war.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (military) An infantryman, a soldier of the infantry.^{[4][9][17][1]}
2. (card games) The jack or knave, the lowest of the court cards in French and Neapolitan packs: Calò il fante di cuori.^{[4][9][17][1]}
3. (archaic) A servant, an errand boy; a man of low condition.^[4][17][1]
4. (archaic, feminine) A maidservant, the same as fantesca.^[4][17][1]
5. (archaic) A child; a young man.^[4][17][1]

Word family

• fanteria
• fantaccino
• fantesca
• fantino
• fantoccio
• fantolino
• fanticello
• fanciullo
• lestofante

Related words

• infante
• Latin īnfāns
• French enfant

Usage notes

The proverb scherza coi fanti e lascia stare i santi, “joke with servants but leave the saints alone”, keeps the old sense of servant.^[10][17] Fante di picche, the jack of spades, is said in Tuscany of a ridiculous, self-important person.^[11][4] A separate, learned fante, an adjective meaning “gifted with speech and reason”, comes directly from Latin fāns: Dante uses it in Purgatorio XXV, Ma come d'animal divegna fante (“but how from an animal it becomes a speaking being”).^[3][4][5][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1595
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
16. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
17. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)