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faro

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word faro

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
before 1264, Percivalle Doria
Borrowed from
Latin pharus
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek Φάρος

Pronunciation

Forms

faro m (plural fari)[1] Old texts also have Old Italian fare and far.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin Pharus, from Ancient Greek Φάρος (Pháros), the name of a small island off Alexandria in Egypt.[4][5][6][7] There Ptolemy II Philadelphus built in the 3rd century BC a great tower with a light for ships, counted among the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, and its name passed to every such tower.[4][5][8] The GDLI quotes Isidore of Seville, who explains that Greeks and Latins alike named the lighthouse after the use made of it.[3]

The same word is French phare (1553, beside Old French far and faron) and Spanish faro.[9][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the poet Percivalle Doria before 1264, who says that in a storm the lighthouse still shines.[4][3] The TLIO also has it in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur.[2]

Semantic evolution

From the 14th century the word also named a narrow strait marked by a lighthouse, and especially the Strait of Messina (Faro di Messina).[2][10][11] The kingdoms di qua and di là dal faro, on either side of the strait, appear in Ariosto.[11] English borrowed this sense as fare in 1628.[10]

The sense “powerful light source” is recorded by Tommaseo in 1869.[4] In the 20th century the word came to name the headlights of cars and trains, and figuratively a guide or beacon (un faro per i giovani).[6][12][8] Recent journalism uses accendere un faro su for turning attention on something.[8]

Timeline

  • Before 1264 – Percivalle Doria uses faro.[4]
  • Before 1348–1353 – Fare is used for a strait.[10]
  • 1628 – English fare is recorded for the Strait of Messina.[10]
  • 1869 – Tommaseo records the sense “powerful light”.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A lighthouse, the signalling light on the coast that guides ships at night; the tower that carries it: Il faro del porto si vede da molto lontano.[6][12][7]
  2. A powerful floodlight.[6][7]
  3. A headlight of a car, train or aircraft, mostly in the plural: Ricordati di accendere i fari in galleria.[6][12][8]
  4. (figurative) A guide or point of reference: un faro per i giovani.[6][12][13]
  5. (historical) A strait, especially the Strait of Messina.[2][11]

Word family

  • faretto
  • farista
  • fanale
  • Latin pharus

Usage notes

Faro galleggiante is a lightship.[12][7] Fari abbaglianti and fari anabbaglianti are high and low beams.[6][12]

References

  1. ^ a b 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 5, 692
  4. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  8. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1601
  10. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  11. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Faro.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/faro. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·