figliastro

Forms

figliastro m (plural figliastri, feminine figliastra)^[1] Old Italian forms include figlastro, Old Italian filiastro, Old Italian fiastro and Old Italian fiaster.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin fīliaster (“stepson”), from Latin fīlius (“son”).^[3][4][5][1] The GDLI explains the suffix as that of patraster (“stepfather”), which replaced prīvignus (“stepson”) in the 5th century.^[6] Tommaseo found the Latin word in the glosses of Isidore and in an inscription.^[7] The same word is Romanian fiastru and Spanish hijastro.^[1]

The Latin word for “son” first meant “suckling”: de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *dʰ(e)h₁i-l- (“suckling, child”), from the root of fēllō (“to suck”).^[8][1] Nocentini relates fēmina.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Florentine account book of 1211, for the child of one's husband or wife by an earlier marriage.^[3][2][5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the word for a son who lacks due respect for his father, an unnatural son, and figuratively for someone treated worse than others.^[2] Dante's line on Obizzo d'Este, fu spento dal figliastro (“was slain by his stepson”, Inferno 12), was read by Tommaseo in this sense: a son who acted worse than a stepson.^[7] The feminine figliastra is in Bono Giamboni.^[6]

The sense “illegitimate son” is obsolete.^[5][9] In Lombard and central dialects the word has come to mean “son-in-law” or “daughter-in-law”, as in part of the Franco-Provençal area.^[10]

Timeline

• 1211 – First record, in a Florentine account book.^[3][2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the feminine figliastra.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. stepson, stepchild: the child of one's husband or wife by an earlier marriage or relationship: Ha cresciuto il figliastro come un figlio suo.^{[5][11][12][1]}
2. (obsolete) An illegitimate son.^[5][9]

Related words

• figlio
• patrigno
• matrigna
• Latin filius

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 5, 963
7. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1636
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse