fendere

Forms

fendere (first-person singular present fèndo, first-person singular past historic fendétti or (traditional) fendètti or fendéi, past participle fendùto or fésso, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin findere (“to split, cleave”).^[2][3][4][1] The verb survives in most of the Romance languages, but not in Sardinian or Romanian: French fendre, Occitan fendre, Catalan fendre, Spanish hender and Portuguese fender.^[3][5][6] In the Italian dialects it competes with spaccare and tagliare.^[6]

The Latin verb comes from Proto-Italic *findō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to split”), with a nasal infix in the present.^[1][7][8] Germanic kept the root without the infix and narrowed it to “bite”: German beißen and the English word bite.^[3][8]

The open /ɛ/ of the Italian verb, where Latin short /i/ would give a closed /e/, is explained by Nocentini as the influence of offendere, and by Devoto as that of tendere, prendere, pendere and rendere.^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Guido Guinizzelli, before 1276.^[9][10] DELI's first dated sense is “to split across”, in Guittone d'Arezzo before 1294, who speaks of swords con che v'han fesso i visi “with which they have split your faces”.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for opening or tearing a solid surface, cutting a body clean through, dividing a thing in parts, piercing, forcing a way through enemies in battle, ploughing, and moving fast through water or air; figurative phrases were fendere il cuore “to break the heart” and the curse che tu sia fenduto.^[9] Giordano da Pisa has “pass through the middle” in 1302–1305, and Giovanni Villani the reflexive “to crack, split open” before 1348.^[2]

The past participle fesso and the past historic fessi are now archaic, replaced by fenduto and fendetti or fendei.^[12][10] Derivatives include fenditura (14th century), fendente, a downward sword stroke (15th–16th century), and fendinebbia “fog lamp” (1963).^[2][3]

Timeline

• Before 1276 – Guido Guinizzelli uses fendere.^[9]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses it for “to split”.^[2]
• 1302–1305 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for “to pass through the middle”.^[2]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses the reflexive for “to split open”.^[2]
• 14th century – Fenditura appears in a vernacular Bible.^[2]
• 15th–16th century – Fendente “downward sword stroke” appears in the chivalric cantari.^[2]
• 1691 – Fenditoio is recorded in the third edition of the Crusca dictionary.^[2]
• 1963 – Fendinebbia “fog lamp” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To split, cleave lengthwise or in two: Fendette il ciocco con un colpo d'accetta.^[4][12][10]
2. (literary) To tear, lacerate.^[4][12][13]
3. To furrow, plough (the earth).^[12][14][13]
4. To cut through, pass through: fendere la folla, fendere le onde.^[4][12][10]
5. (reflexive, fendersi) To crack, split open.^[12][14][10]

Word family

• fenditura
• fesso
• fendente
• fendinebbia
• fenditoio
• fendibile
• fenditore
• refendere
• rifendere
• sfendere

Related words

• Latin findō
• French fendre

Usage notes

Past historic fendetti or fendei; past participle fenduto, with the archaic fesso, which lives on as an adjective and noun.^[12][13][1] Zingarelli records an obsolete variant sfendere.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1616
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 5, 809
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse