fieno

Forms

fieno m (plural fieni)^[1] Old Italian forms include feno, Old Italian fen, Old Italian fenu, Old Italian fien and Old Italian fem.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin faenum (“hay”), a variant of fēnum.^[3][4][5][1] Unlike the other Romance forms, the Tuscan word has a diphthong, and Old Italian also had feno.^[3][6] Nocentini and DEI explain the diphthong from the variant with ⟨ae⟩, which also accounts for Calabrian forms with and without ⟨r⟩.^[3][7] DELI, Devoto and Sabatini–Coletti instead start from a Vulgar Latin *flēnum, a blend of the word for “hay” with flōs (“flower”).^{[6][8][9][10]} Meyer-Lübke also put the Italian word and the southern forms with ⟨r⟩ under the influence of the word for “flower”, and Wiktionary gives both explanations.^[11][1] DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance with both a close and an open vowel.^[12]

It is pan-Romance: French foin, Occitan fe, Catalan fe, Spanish heno, Portuguese feno, Romanian fân and Sardinian fenu.^[3][11][12]

The spelling with ⟨ae⟩ is found in an inscription of 117 BC, so some scholars take it as the older one, and then the origin is unknown.^[13] If ⟨fē-⟩ is original, the word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-no- (“yield”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suckle”), and meant “produce, yield” before “hay”, like fēcundus (“fruitful”) and fēnus (“interest on a loan”).^{[13][1][3][7]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Proverbia que dicuntur super natura feminarum, a Venetian poem of the late 12th century.^[2] The TLIO's first sense is grass cut and dried, used mostly as fodder or to stuff rough beds.^[2] DELI dates the form feno to Iacopone, before 1306: “e poco feno avuto” (and you had a little hay), said of the manger of Christ.^[6][14]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio has the modern form fieno (1353): in the Decameron someone hides in a heap of hay.^[6][14][15] The Tuscan translation of Crescenzi advises cutting hay in hot clear weather, when the grasses have grown but the flowers have not begun to dry.^[14] Old Italian also had fieno verde for freshly cut grass, and figuratively fieno for a bed.^[2]

Agricultural writing names the cuts: fieno maggengo (May hay), agostano (second cut), settembrino and terzuolo.^[16][5][4] Several plant names contain the word: fieno greco is fenugreek and fieno santo sainfoin.^[5][17] Febbre da fieno “hay fever” is, according to DELI and Devoto–Oli, a calque of French fièvre des foins.^[6][16] The figurative mettere fieno in cascina means to lay something by for later.^[17]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur has the first record.^[2]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone uses the form feno.^[6][14]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses the form fieno.^[6]
• 15th–16th century – Fenile, later fienile “hayloft”, appears in the chivalric cantari.^[6]
• 1865 – Fienagione “haymaking” is recorded.^[6][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. hay: grass and other plants cut, dried and stored as fodder for livestock.^{[4][16][17][18]} Fare il fieno is to make hay.^{[4][16][17][18]}
2. In plant names: fieno greco, fenugreek;^[5][17][10] fieno santo, sainfoin;^[5][17][10] fieno d'Ungheria, lucerne.^[5][17][10]
3. (medicine) In febbre da fieno and raffreddore da fieno, hay fever, an allergy to pollen.^{[4][16][17][18]}

Word family

• fienagione
• fienaio
• fienaiolo
• fienarola
• fienoso
• affienare
• fiengreco

Related words

• fienile
• fiore
• fecondo
• Latin faenum
• French foin

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1635
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
13. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ 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
17. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
18. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana