federale

Forms

federale m or f by sense (plural federali)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French fédéral, which DELI dates to 1783 (DEI has 1739, Devoto–Oli 1789), formed from the stem foeder- of Latin foedus (“treaty, alliance”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} Latin had foederātus (“allied”) and foederātiō, but the words of this family spread in Italian at the time of the French Revolution, after French fédéralisme, fédéraliste and fédération.^[2][3]

The Latin noun shares its root with fidēs (“trust, faith”) and fīdō (“to trust”), whence fede and fido.^[3][7][8][5] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Italic *feiðos and Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰ- (“to trust”), and DEI and Devoto explain the vowel as a blend of two stems of that root.^[1][9][10] Ennius still wrote the word with ⟨i⟩, as fidus.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the newspaper Notizie del mondo in 1790, which calls Washington the città federale, “federal city”.^[2][4] The sense is of a state made of members with wide autonomy.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The related words followed within a few years: federalismo in 1793, federalista in 1796 and federazione in 1797, while federativo had appeared in 1756.^[2] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli give 1849 for federale itself.^[3][6] In the 19th century Carlo Cattaneo, a federalist, used the word of the Swiss Confederation, and De Sanctis wrote of the federal polytechnic.^[8]

Under Fascism segretario federale (1931), and, from 1935 simply federale, was the head of the party in a province.^[2][11] Today the adjective also refers to sports, trade-union and party federations.^[4][11]

Timeline

• 1756 – Federativo is recorded.^[2]
• 1783 – French fédéral is recorded.^[2]
• 1790 – Notizie del mondo calls Washington the città federale.^[2]
• 1793 – Federalismo is recorded.^[2]
• 1931 – Segretario federale names a Fascist provincial leader.^[2]
• 1935 – Federale is used alone as a noun.^[2][11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. federal: made up of a federation of states: una repubblica federale.^[4][6][11]
2. Of or belonging to a federal state: Ha lavorato per la polizia federale.^[4][6]
3. Of a sports, trade-union or political federation: Il consiglio federale si riunisce domani.^[4][11]

Noun

1. (history) Under Fascism, the secretary of the party in a province.^{[4][6][11][2]}

Word family

• federalismo
• federalista
• federalmente

Related words

• federazione
• federato
• confederazione
• fede
• Latin foedus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
6. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1612
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse