fetta

Forms

fetta f (plural fette)^[1] The oldest texts have Old Italian fecta and Old Italian feta.^[2]

Etymology

In the usual view it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *offĭtta, a diminutive of Latin offa (“morsel; cake”), which lost its first syllable when ⟨l’offitta⟩ was heard as ⟨la fitta⟩.^[3][4][5][6] DELI calls this view, held by DEI, Migliorini–Duro and Devoto with a form *offetta, the usual one but not fully certain.^[7][8][9] It finds support in the parallel Neapolitan fella (“slice”).^[7] Nocentini compares the southern forms that continue offella, another diminutive of the same word, such as Sicilian feḍḍa.^[3][10]

DEI itself, in its entry, derives the word by a change of suffix from the southern ⟨(af)fella⟩.^[11] Prati left the origin open and compared fella “plank”, a link DELI finds even less likely.^[12][7] Wiktionary prefers Latin findō (“to split”), through a remade participle *fictus for fissus, as fitto goes with fixus, and compares Portuguese fita, Dalmatian fiata and Sardinian fitta.^[1] Diez and Zaccaria derived it from Old High German fizza (“skein of thread”), an idea Körting rejects for Italian.^[13][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the Novellino, at the end of the 13th century, in the sense “a wide piece of food of some thickness, cut off from the rest”.^[7] The tale tells of a woman slicing bread: alla prima fetta cadde in sul desco un tornese d'oro, “at the first slice a gold coin fell on the table”.^[9] The TLIO's first record is in Jacopone da Todi, also late 13th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The extended sense “part, portion” is in Jacopone (before 1306).^[7] In Old Italian fetta was mostly a slice of bread, and also any long, narrow part of something, a strip or ribbon used as a belt.^[2] Boccaccio has a woman bring due fette di pane arrostito, “two slices of toasted bread”.^[9][15]

The diminutive fettuccia, a strong tape or ribbon, appears as Medieval Latin fitutia in Rome in 1489, then as fettuzza in Castiglione and fettuccia in Berni (before 1535).^[7] Fettuccine is a Roman word: Panzini in 1905 described it as the Roman homemade egg pasta corresponding to Bolognese tagliatelle, and Carducci used it in 1897.^[7] Modern Italian has figurative uses such as una fetta di mercato, “a share of the market”, and fare a fette, “to cut to pieces, kill”.^[4][16][5] In humorous colloquial speech, especially in Rome and the south, le fette are the feet.^[1][6][4] Greek borrowed the word as Modern Greek φέτα (féta).^[1]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Fetta appears in the Novellino and in Jacopone da Todi.^[7][2]
• Last decade of the 13th century – The verb affettare “to slice” is first recorded.^[3]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone uses fetta for “part, portion”.^[7]
• 1489 – Medieval Latin fitutia “ribbon” is recorded in Rome.^[7]
• Before 1535 – Berni uses fettuccia.^[7]
• 1865 – Fettuccina is recorded in Fanfani's dictionary.^[7][3]
• 1897 – Carducci uses fettuccine for the pasta.^[7]
• 1922 – Fettunta, toasted bread with oil, is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A slice: a wide, fairly thin piece cut from something, especially food: Mi tagli due fette di formaggio?^[4][17][5]
2. A long, narrow strip of something: Dal balcone si vedeva una fetta di lago.^[4][17][18]
3. (figurative) A part or share of a whole: una fetta degli utili.^[4][17][5]
4. (colloquial, humorous, usually plural) The feet, especially big ones.^{[4][17][6][1]}
5. (humorous, dated, plural) The coattails of a jacket.^[4][17][6]
6. (obsolete) A ribbon, tape.^[4][19][16]

Word family

• fettuccia
• fettuccina
• fettina
• fettunta
• affettare
• fettone
• fettolina

Related words

• offa

Usage notes

Fare a fette is literally “to slice up” and figuratively “to kill, cut to pieces”.^[17][18] A fetta biscottata is a rusk.^[4][1] In Bologna fetta is also a cut of beef, called pezza elsewhere.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1628
12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 434
13. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
14. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ 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
18. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
19. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli