fegato

Forms

fegato m (plural fegati)^[1] Old Italian forms include fecato, feghato, ficato and figato, and northern figà, figado, figao and figò.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin fīcātum (“liver”), in a Vulgar Latin form with the stress drawn back to the first syllable, *fícatum, and then *fécatum.^[3][4][1] The Latin word, recorded from the 3rd century AD, was short for Latin iecur (“liver”) fīcātum, “liver fattened with figs”, from fīcus (“fig”).^[3][4][5] It was a cooking term modelled on Ancient Greek ἧπαρ (hêpar, “liver”) συκωτόν (sukōtón), from σῦκον (sûkon, “fig”): the Greeks fattened pigs and especially geese on figs, which enlarged the liver and gave it a fine flavour, and Horace speaks of the liver of a white goose fed on figs.^[3][4][6] The word at first meant only the liver of such animals, and it gradually drove out the old Indo-European word for the organ in the Romance languages and in Greek.^[3][7]

The form with the Latin stress survives in Romanian ficat and Venetian figà, and in Vegliote, Friulian, Engadine and Sardinian; elsewhere forms stressed on the first syllable prevail, as French foie, Occitan fetge, Catalan fetge, Spanish hígado and Portuguese fígado.^[7][4][8] DEI explains the shift of stress by the secondary accent of the Greek word, and the forms with /o/ by the late Greek pronunciation of upsilon.^[7] For Nocentini the drawing back of the stress and the change of /iː/ to /e/ are unusual events that have been explained in several ways.^[4] Devoto attributed the initial stress to Lombardic speech habits, and the /g/ to the northern voicing of /k/ between vowels.^[9] DELI cites Tagliavini and Franceschi (1983), who explained the many variant stresses and forms by the transmission of the Latin word in writing.^[3]

The old word comes from a neuter Proto-Indo-European *iekʷ-r/n- (“liver”), the source also of Sanskrit यकृत् (yákṛt) and of the Greek word for liver.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Florentine Fiori di filosafi of 1271–1275, for the organ of vertebrates that lies on the right side of the human abdomen.^[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word for liver as food and, figuratively, for the organ in which courage resides.^[2] Nocentini links this sense to the popular belief that the liver is the seat of strong emotions;^[4][3] Tommaseo thought it came from the ancients' placing the appetites in the liver.^[4][3] DELI dates fegato “courage, daring” to Tommaseo's dictionary of 1841.^[3]

In old chemistry the word named several metal polysulphides of a liver-like colour, such as fegato di zolfo and fegato di antimonio, and Salvini (18th century) used it for a kind of fish.^[11][7] Derivatives date from the Middle Ages: fegatella, a liverwort whose underside has the colour of liver (about 1350, Crescenzi in translation), and fegatello, a piece of pig's liver wrapped in caul and cooked with herbs (before 1416, F. Frezzi). Fegatoso “suffering from the liver” is recorded in 1798 (figatoxo in Savonarola before 1460), and later “spiteful, irritable”.^[3] Sfegatato, with the prefix s-, appeared in the 16th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 1271–1275 – Fegato “liver” appears in the Florentine Fiori di filosafi.^[2][4]
• About 1350 – Fegatella, the name of a liverwort, is recorded in the translation of Crescenzi.^[3]
• Before 1416 – F. Frezzi uses fegatello.^[3]
• Before 1460 – Figatoxo “liverish” appears in Savonarola's De regimine.^[3]
• 16th century – Sfegatato is first recorded.^[4]
• 1841 – Tommaseo records fegato “courage”.^[3]
• 1864 – Fegatino, chicken liver as food, is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) The liver, the large gland in the upper right part of the abdomen that produces bile and takes part in the metabolism of fats, sugars and proteins: Il medico gli ha trovato il fegato un po' ingrossato.^[5][11][6]
2. The liver of a slaughtered animal as food: fegato alla veneziana, calf's liver cooked with onions.^[5][11][12]
3. (figurative) Courage, nerve, daring: Non tutti avrebbero il fegato di dirglielo in faccia.^[5][11][6]
4. (chemistry, dated) A polysulphide of a metal, named for its colour: fegato di zolfo.^[5][11][12]

Word family

• fegatello
• fegatella
• fegatino
• fegataccio
• fegatoso
• sfegatato
• sfegatarsi

Related words

• fico
• Latin ficus
• French foie

Usage notes

Common figurative phrases are mangiarsi or rodersi il fegato “to be eaten up with anger or spite” and farsi venire il mal di fegato “to take something too much to heart”.^[12][11][13] Learned compounds referring to the liver use the prefix epato-.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1613
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana