fiera

fiera¹ fair, market

Etymology tree of fiera¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin fēriae

Latin fēria

French foire

Italian fiera

Spanish feria

German feiern

From the same root · fiera¹

Latin fēriātus ← fēriae

Pronunciation

• /ˈfjɛ.ra/^[1]

Forms

fiera f (plural fiere)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the fair is inherited from Late Latin fēria (“feast day; market day”), with the vowel /i/ moved forward by metathesis.^[2][3][4] The fairs were named after the feast days because they were held on them.^[2][4][5] Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti give the intermediate form as Vulgar Latin *fiera.^[6][7] Nocentini calls it the popular outcome of the Late Latin word, while DEI and the GDLI call it semi-learned.^[3][5][8] The learned form of the same word is feria.^[2][3]

The same word is French foire, Occitan feira, Catalan fira and Friulian fiere.^[3][9] Portuguese feira names a day of the week, as in segunda-feira (“Monday”), and Spanish feria is a learned borrowing.^[9][10]

Classical Latin used only the plural Latin fēriae (“religious festival, holidays”), of which the singular is a back-formation of Late and Church Latin.^[1][11] The plural had an older form fēsiae, recorded by Festus, and is related to fēstus (“festive”).^[12][11][1] De Vaan derives it from Proto-Italic *fēsio- (“holiday”), and through it from an s-stem Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁s- (“rite; religious gift”), which also gave Ancient Greek θεός (theós, “god”).^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Mauro dates the word to 1219.^[4][13] The TLIO's first record is in the Sienese Ruggieri Apugliese, of the middle of the 13th century, and DELI's is the account book of Gentile Ugolini of 1263.^[14][2] The sense was already a periodic gathering of sellers and buyers to trade goods of every kind, usually held on a religious feast.^[2][14]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian fiera also named the time of year when a fair was held, and by extension trade or exchange in general.^[14] Marco Polo's Tuscan translator calls a busy trading place grandissima fiera (“a very great fair”), and Boccaccio tells of a man carrying goods per le fiere di Puglia (“to the fairs of Apulia”).^[8] Tommaseo distinguishes the fair from the mercato, which is smaller, more frequent and draws people from less far.^[15]

The charity sale (fiera di beneficenza) is recorded from Carducci in 1874–1883, and the modern trade exhibition is the fiera campionaria.^[2] Fiera della vanità is a calque of English Vanity Fair: it appears in an Italian translation of Walter Scott of 1828 and became popular after Thackeray's novel.^[2] The sense of loud confusion grew from the noise of the fairs.^[4][7] A Tuscan proverb says that three women make a market and four make a fair.^[15][16]

German borrowed the word as Fiera in 1806.^[13] From the 17th century it had formed Fierant (“pedlar”), now used only in Austria.^[13] The Albanian town name Fier also comes from the Italian word.^[1]

Timeline

• 1219 – First recorded date of fiera given by De Mauro.^[4][13]
• 1263 – Fiera “market fair” in the account book of Gentile Ugolini.^[2]
• 17th century – German forms Fierant “pedlar” from the Italian word.^[13]
• 1806 – German Fiera is recorded.^[13]
• 1828 – Fiera della vanità appears in a translation of Walter Scott.^[2]
• 1874–1883 – Carducci uses fiera di beneficenza “charity sale”.^[2]
• 1935 – The derivative fieristico is recorded.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A periodic market with stalls of every kind of goods, often held on a local religious feast: Il giorno della fiera la piazza si riempie di bancarelle.^[4][6][7]
2. A large national or international trade fair for one or several branches of production;^[4][17][16] fiera campionaria, a fair where samples are shown and orders taken: Quest’anno andiamo alla fiera dell’artigianato.^[4][17][16]
3. Fiera di beneficenza: a charity sale of donated objects.^[17][16][18]
4. (figurative) Noisy confusion, a din: Che fiera c’è in questa classe!^[4][6][7]

Word family

• fieristico
• fieraiolo
• fierino

fiera² wild beast

Etymology tree of fiera²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin ferus

French fier

Italian fiero

Latin fera

Italian fiera

From the same root · fiera²

Latin equiferus ← ferus

Latin feritās ← ferus

Latin ferōx ← ferus

Latin sēmifer ← ferus

English feral ← fera

Latin ferīnus ← fera

Pronunciation

• /ˈfjɛ.ra/^[1]

Forms

fiera f (plural fiere)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the wild beast is inherited from Latin fera (“wild animal”), the feminine of the adjective ferus (“wild”) used as a noun.^[2][3][4][1] Nocentini and DÉRom explain it as short for a phrase with bēstia (“beast”).^[3][19] The older form was Old Italian fera; the standard form shows the normal Tuscan diphthong of a stressed open /ɛ/ in an open syllable.^[7][2]

The same word is Romanian fiară, Occitan fera, Spanish fiera and Portuguese fera.^[3][9] DÉRom reconstructs it only for continental Proto-Romance, after Sardinian had split off and before Romanian did, which it dates between the 2nd and the 3rd century.^[19] DEI notes that it is lacking in French.^[5]

De Vaan traces the Latin adjective to Proto-Italic *χwero- and Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰweh₁r- (“wild animal”), the source also of Ancient Greek θήρ (thḗr, “wild beast”) and Lithuanian žvėrìs.^[12] He thinks the feminine noun kept the adjective's ending from being reduced as in vir.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur of the late 12th century.^[14] DELI gives fera from Brunetto Latini, who died in 1294, and fiera from Dante, in the sense “wild or ferocious animal”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Guittone d'Arezzo writes: Fera no è sì strana, / che non fosse venuta pietosa (“No beast is so wild that it would not have become merciful”).^[8] Dante has quella fera alla gaetta pelle (“that beast with the spotted hide”).^[8][7] Love poetry made the beloved who rejects her lover a fera: Petrarch calls Laura la fera bella et mansueta (“the beautiful and gentle beast”).^[7][16]

Tommaseo defines the fiera as an animal that is not tame and not small, though not always ferocious, and records condannato alle fiere, “condemned to the beasts” of the arena.^[15] Today the word is literary beside the commoner belva.^[16][6]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur is the TLIO's first record.^[14]
• c. 1274 – De Mauro's date for the word.^[4]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses fera.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses fiera.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) A wild, ferocious beast; a belva: Nel circo i prigionieri venivano dati alle fiere.^[4][6][16]
2. (figurative) A cruel, savage person.^[4][7][18]
3. (poetic, archaic) The beloved woman who does not return her lover's feelings.^[4][6][17]

Word family

• ferino