Etymologically
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fattoria

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 20:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /fat.toˈri.a/[1]

Forms

fattoria f (plural fattorie)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian fattore (“steward, farm manager”) + -ia.[2][3][4][1] Fattore is a learned word, borrowed from Latin factor (“maker, doer”), from faciō (“to make, do”).[2][3] Nocentini notes that the Latin word became common through the Creed, which calls God the maker of heaven and earth, and that in Italian it came to mean the agent who looks after an owner's interests, especially on an estate.[3]

The sense “trading post abroad” is not from the Italian word: DEI and Prati take it from Portuguese feitoria, or from Old French factorie (1428).[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in a Sienese statute of 1309–1310, where fattoria is the charge of managing goods or a business for someone, and in the Tuscan Gospels of the 14th century, with the office of the steward.[7][2][8]

Semantic evolution

Until the 17th century the word meant an office: the post and duties of a fattore, who ran a merchant's affairs or an estate for its owner.[7][8][9] In 1618 Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger uses it for the estate itself, a group of farms under one owner and one steward, and, from there it came to mean the steward's house with its farm buildings and then any farm.[2][9][4]

In the 17th century fattoria also named the trading posts of European merchants overseas: Porcacchi (1620) writes of a casa di fattoria kept by the King of Portugal.[5][6] In the 20th century the fattoria collettiva was a collective farm, and nave fattoria a whaling factory ship, a mistranslation of English factory ship.[10][11]

Timeline

  • 1309–1310 – A Sienese statute uses fattoria for a charge of administration.[7]
  • 14th century – The Tuscan Gospels use it for the steward's office.[2]
  • 1618 – Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger uses it for a group of farms under one owner.[2]
  • 1620 – Porcacchi uses it for a Portuguese trading post overseas.[5]
  • 1802 – English records fattoria for an Italian farmhouse.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A farm, especially a farming estate made up of several holdings run by one steward: Abbiamo passato l'estate in una fattoria in Toscana.[4][11][13]
  2. The steward's house and the farm buildings that go with it; a farmhouse.[4][11][14]
  3. (uncommon) The management of an estate; the office of fattore.[4][11][13]
  4. (history) A trading post kept by European merchants in a foreign country.[4][11]

Usage notes

Gli animali della fattoria are farm animals.[13] After a noun, fattoria is invariable: nave fattoria, a factory ship.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1606
  6. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 427
  7. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 5, 736
  9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  10. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana