favella

Forms

favella f (plural favelle)^[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Italian favellare (“to speak, talk”): a deverbal noun with no suffix, as DELI, Devoto–Oli, Sabatini–Coletti, Zingarelli, Treccani and Gabrielli have it.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} The verb is Vulgar Latin *fabellāre (“to converse”), from Latin fābella (“little story”), a diminutive of fābula (“tale; talk”), whence favola.^[2][8] The verb is recorded in Latin glosses, and the agent noun fabellator is already in the Old Latin Bible.^[9] It has cognates in Old French faveler and Old Occitan favelar, and further in Dalmatian faular and Sardinian fueddai.^[8][9]

GRADIT and the GDLI derive the noun straight from the Latin diminutive, the GDLI as a learned word, and Wiktionary allows both routes.^[10][11][1] The DEI notes the word in Italian and Ladin, in Old French and Occitan, and a borrowing into Albanian, Albanian fjalë (“word”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest form, favela, appears in the Glossary of Monza at the end of the 9th century; the spelling favella is first found in Bono Giamboni, before 1292, meaning “the faculty of speech”.^[2][8] Giamboni writes that a creature is born without sense and without speech (sanza senno e sanza favella).^[11]

Semantic evolution

Before 1321 Dante used the word for “a particular language”.^[2] He also uses it for voices (Diverse lingue, orribili favelle) and, by extension, for peoples: Fu imperadrice di molte favelle, “she was empress of many tongues”.^[3][6] Guittone d'Arezzo complains that he can hardly draw speech out of his mouth (che for tragga de bocca la favella), and in the Decameron a jealous husband puts pebbles in his mouth to disguise his speech.^[11]

Tommaseo contrasts the parrot, which talks after a fashion but has no favella, with man, to whom the gift of speech is given.^[12] Perdere la favella means to lose the power of speech, and by hyperbole to be struck dumb.^[6][12] The word is now elevated or literary in all its senses.^[3][4][6]

Timeline

• Late 9th century – favela is recorded in the Glossary of Monza.^[2]
• Late 12th century – the verb appears as fabellare in the Ritmo cassinese.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses favella for the faculty of speech.^[2][8]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses favella for a particular language.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (elevated) The faculty of speech, the power of speaking: Dopo lo spavento il bambino rimase a lungo senza favella.^[10][3][5]
2. (literary) The act or manner of speaking; discourse; a voice.^{[10][3][6][7]}
3. (literary) A language or tongue: Studiava con passione la favella dei Greci.^[10][3][5]
4. (literary, by extension) A people or nation, named by its language.^[3][6]

Related words

• favellare
• favola
• Latin fabella

Usage notes

Tenere favella is an old phrase for “to converse”.^[10][5] A separate Old Italian favella “small honeycomb”, from favo, is recorded in a Tuscan poem of the 14th century.^[13]

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 e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ 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)
7. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1608
10. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ 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, 743
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it