Etymologically
Log in

festa

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 19:29. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Forms

festa f (plural feste)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin fēsta (“feast, holiday”), originally the neuter plural of fēstum (“feast”), taken as a feminine singular; the noun comes from the adjective fēstus (“festive, solemn”), as in ⟨dies festus⟩ “holiday”.[2][3][4][5][6] The word is found across the Romance west, but not in Romanian: French fête, Occitan festa, Catalan festa, Spanish fiesta and Portuguese festa.[3][7][8] Through Old French feste it passed into German Fest and English feast, and it was also borrowed into Albanian festë and Basque besta.[3][7]

Latin fēstus belongs with fēriae (“holidays”) and fānum (“temple”), from a root ⟨*fēs-⟩;[3][9][1][10] Devoto derives fānum from an older ⟨*fasnom⟩, without connections outside Italic.[3][9][1][10] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁s-tos, from *dʰéh₁s (“god; sacred place”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, of the last quarter of the 12th century.[11] DELI dates the sense “solemn day of religious or civil celebration” to Bono Giamboni, before 1292.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The feast day of a saint or a mystery of the faith is in Giordano da Pisa in 1304, and the public or private celebration of a happy event in the 13th-century chronicle attributed to Malispini.[2] Dante uses the word for great joy and for a warm welcome before 1321, and the TLIO records fare festa “to celebrate, rejoice” in Old Italian.[2][11]

Modern Italian uses festa for a public holiday, a day off work or school, a birthday or name day, and a party;[4][12][5] le feste are the Christmas or Easter holidays.[4][12][5] English borrowed festa for an Italian feast day in 1787.[13]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur use festa.[11]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for a solemn day.[2]
  • 1304 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for a Church feast.[2]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses it for great joy.[2]
  • 1541 – Festone “festoon” is first recorded.[2]
  • 1787 – English festa is first recorded.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A holiday, a day of religious or civil celebration: festa nazionale, la festa di San Giuseppe.[4][12][14]
  2. (plural) le feste: the Christmas or Easter holidays: Buone feste![4][12][15]
  3. (colloquial) One's birthday or name day: Domani è la festa di mia sorella.[4][5]
  4. (colloquial) A day off work or school: Lunedì è festa.[4][12]
  5. A party, a gathering to celebrate or have fun: Diamo una festa per i suoi trent'anni.[4][12][5]
  6. Joy, rejoicing; a joyful welcome: Il cane gli fece festa.[5][15][2]

Word family

  • festaiolo
  • festante
  • festeggiare
  • festeggiamento
  • festeggiato
  • festevole
  • festino
  • festone
  • festoso
  • festosità
  • festivo
  • festività
  • prefestivo
  • feria
  • Latin fēstus

Usage notes

Conciare qualcuno per le feste means “to beat someone up, leave someone in a bad way”, and the proverb Passata la festa, gabbato lo santo is said of promises forgotten once the favour has been received.[14][16]

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 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 e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  6. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1626
  8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli