fingere

Forms

fingere (first-person singular present fìngo, first-person singular past historic fìnsi, past participle fìnto, auxiliary avére)^[1] An old variant is Old Italian fignere.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fingere (“to shape, to fashion; to imagine; to feign”).^[5][6][7][1] GDLI calls it a learned word,^[4] while Nocentini and DEI group it with the popular outcomes in other Romance languages.^[6][8] The sense “to pretend” lives on in French feindre and Occitan fenher, and the old sense “to knead, to shape dough” in Catalan fenyer (“to bake”) and Spanish heñir (“to knead”), while Spanish fingir and Portuguese fingir are learned.^[6][8][9] Isidore of Seville gave the Latin sense as “Fingere enim est facere, formare et plasmare” (“for to feign is to make, to form and to mould”).^[4]

The Latin verb continues a Proto-Italic nasal present and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to knead clay, to mould”).^[10][6][1] The same root gave Ancient Greek τεῖχος (teîkhos, “wall”), Oscan feíhúss (“walls”), Sanskrit देग्धि (degdhi, “smears, plasters”) and Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌹𐌲𐍃 (daigs, “dough”);^[10][6] Latin figūra, the source of figura, belongs to it too.^[10][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Guittone d'Arezzo's letters (before 1294), in the sense “to suppose, to imagine”;^[5][11][4] in a passage GDLI quotes, Guittone says of one who betrays that she is wicked and ugly e finge esser bella, “and pretends to be beautiful”.^[5][11][4] The TLIO's Old Italian senses include showing what is not so, representing in images or poetry, imagining, and imitating sounds with the voice.^[11]

Semantic evolution

DEI notes that in Italian fingere entirely took the place of simulare in common use.^[8] The reflexive fingersi “to pass oneself off as” is first recorded in Ariosto's Orlando furioso (1516).^[5] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli date the main modern sense “to pretend” to 1532.^[6][2] Poetry kept the Latin senses “to imagine” and “to shape”: Leopardi writes io nel pensier mi fingo (“I picture to myself in thought”) in L'infinito, and Tasso's swallow compone e finge her nest.^[7][2]

The participle finto “false, sham” is recorded from the late 14th century, and, from it came finta “pretence” (1585), also a feint in fighting (before 1595) and sport.^[5] Far finta “to pretend” is recorded in 1699 and far finta di niente “to act as if nothing had happened” in Verga (1887).^[5] Finzione (1304) is Latin fictiō remade on finto.^[5][6] Old Italian also had infingere “to feign” and infingardo, first “feigned”, then “lazy”.^[12][9]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses fingere.^[5][11]
• 1304 – Giordano da Pisa uses finzione.^[5]
• Late 14th century – Finto “false” is recorded.^[5]
• 1516 – Ariosto uses the reflexive fingersi.^[5]
• 1585 – Finta “pretence” is recorded.^[5]
• 1699 – Far finta is recorded.^[5]
• 1887 – Verga uses far finta di niente.^[5]
• 1956 – The sports verb fintare “to feint” is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pretend, to feign, to simulate (with di and the infinitive): Ha finto di non sentire il telefono.^[7][2][13]
2. (absolute) To dissemble, to hide one's real feelings: Non è capace di fingere.^[7][2][13]
3. To imagine, to suppose (with che or di): Fingiamo di essere su un'isola deserta.^[7][2][14]
4. (literary) To represent or create in the imagination.^[7][2][14]
5. (literary, archaic) To shape, to mould.^[7][2][14]
6. (reflexive) Fingersi: to pass oneself off as, to pretend to be: Si è finto medico per entrare.^[2][13][14]

Word family

• finto
• finta
• fintare
• finzione
• fingersi
• fingimento
• fingitore

Related words

• infingere
• infingardo
• figura
• simulare
• Latin fingo

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1647
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 444
13. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana