fasciare

Forms

fasciare (first-person singular present fàscio, first-person singular past historic fasciài, past participle fasciàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin fasciō (“to bind with bands”), a Late Latin verb formed on fascia (“band, bandage”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The TLIO takes it as formed in Italian on fascia.^[6] The same verb is Romanian înfășa, Sardinian faskare, French faisser “to weave wicker”, Old Occitan faisar and Catalan faixar.^[7][8]

The Latin noun was derived from fascis (“bundle”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *faski-; de Vaan sees an Italo-Celtic word for “bundle” without a known Indo-European etymology.^[2][3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Lombard text of Pietro da Bescapè, 1274, where it means to wrap something or someone in strips of cloth.^[6][3] GRADIT dates the sense “to surround” to the second half of the 13th century, and DELI finds it in Bono Giamboni before 1292.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian bandaged wounds, swaddled newborn babies and wrapped the dead for burial; it also covered the eyes with a band, and figuratively wrapped, covered or surrounded.^[6] Iacopone da Todi has the sense “to bandage” before 1306, and Cavalca writes of one who saw him wounded e non lo potevi fasciare (“and you could not bandage him”).^[2][10] Dante used it figuratively for the joy that wraps him.^[11]

The reflexive fasciarsi, to wrap oneself in bands or close-fitting clothes, is recorded from Zanobi da Strada.^[2] The proverb non bisogna fasciarsi il capo prima di romperselo, not to bandage one's head before breaking it, warns against worrying about a harm that has not happened.^[12][11][13] Shipbuilders use it for planking a hull with fasciame.^[4][11] Austrian German borrowed it, with the prefix ein-, as einfaschen “to bandage”.^[14]

Timeline

• 1274 – Pietro da Bescapè uses the verb.^[6][3]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for “to surround”.^[2]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses it for “to bandage”.^[2][14]
• Before 1364 – Zanobi da Strada uses the reflexive fasciarsi.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bandage or bind with one or more bands; to swaddle a baby: L'infermiera le fasciò il ginocchio.^{[4][13][15][11]}
2. To wrap tightly; of clothes, to fit closely: Quella gonna le fascia troppo i fianchi.^[4][13][16]
3. (literary) To surround, encircle.^[4][13][11]
4. (nautical) To serve a rope with a whipping; to plank a hull with its outer planking.^[4][13][11]
5. (reflexive, fasciarsi) To wrap oneself in something, or in close-fitting clothes; to bandage a part of one's own body.^{[13][16][15][11]}

Word family

• fasciatoio
• fasciatura
• fasciato
• rifasciare
• sfasciare
• fasciata
• fasciatore
• fasciatrice
• fasciazione

Related words

• infasciare
• fascia
• fascio

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
6. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ 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
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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse