fisso

Forms

fisso (feminine fissa, masculine plural fissi, feminine plural fisse)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian fixo, Old Italian fissu and Old Italian fissy.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fīxus (“fixed, fastened”), the past participle of fīgō (“to drive in, fasten”), from which Italian has figgere.^[4][5][6][1] This was a newer participle beside the older fictus, which gave the doublet fitto.^[7][8][1]

Körting counts Italian among the few languages where the participle is popular, with a second form fiso “intent”, and Meyer-Lübke lists it beside the dialect outcomes, while the GDLI calls it learned and Wiktionary leaves both possibilities open, so whether the word is popular or learned is not settled.^{[9][10][3][1]} The French adjective fixe (written fix in the 13th century) came by learned transmission.^[5][11] In Lombardy the word became Lombard fis, and Bergamo and Crema have fes (“dense; very”).^[10]

De Vaan derives the Latin verb from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeigʷ- (or a form with a laryngeal, *dʰiHgʷ-), and compares Lithuanian díegti (“to plant, sting”).^[8] The Old Latin present fīvere keeps the regular Latin outcome of /gʷ/ between vowels; the /g/ of the present was brought in from the perfect.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the word to 1274, in the sense “stable, that cannot be moved”.^[5] The TLIO's first record is the Florentine translation of Albertano da Brescia of 1275.^[2] DELI's first sense is “intent, concentrated”, in the Fatti di Cesare at the end of the 13th century, and Dante uses the word for what is firmly fastened and for what is motionless.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used fisso for what is driven deep into something, figuratively for what is impressed on the mind, for the fixed stars of astronomy (stelle fisse), for a substance that does not evaporate, for what is settled and invariable, and for a person intent on something.^[2] In the Paradiso Dante describes souls that turned into spheres “above fixed poles” (si fero spere sopra fissi poli).^[3][12]

Later senses describe people and arrangements: “ordinary, habitual” from 1601 (Dolfin), “living or working permanently in a place” before 1712 (Magalotti), “stable, not occasional” before 1798 (Milizia).^[4] Tommaseo distinguished fisso from fitto, which says that a thing is more firmly stuck or more motionless, and quoted the doubled adverb fisso fisso as a superlative.^[13]

The noun now names a fixed salary, as against commission, and since the 1990s a landline telephone; the GDLI supplement quotes the Corriere della Sera of 1998.^[6][3] The verb fissare, first as the participle ha fisso in Petrarch, took on many senses that the purists blamed on French fixer, and fissaggio, fissativo, fissatore, fissismo and fissità are French words in Italian form.^[4]

Timeline

• 1274 – Nocentini's date of first record.^[5]
• 1275 – Fisso appears in the Florentine translation of Albertano.^[2]
• End of the 13th century – The Fatti di Cesare has the sense “intent”.^[4]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses fisso for “firmly fastened” and “motionless”.^[4]
• Before 1375 – Petrarch writes ha fisso, the first record of fissare.^[4]
• 1601 – Dolfin uses the sense “habitual”.^[4]
• Before 1712 – Magalotti uses it of a person living permanently in a place.^[4]
• Before 1798 – Milizia uses it for “stable, not occasional”.^[4]
• 1998 – The noun for a landline telephone appears in the Corriere della Sera.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. fixed, fastened so that it cannot move: Il tavolo della cucina è fisso al muro.^[6][14][12]
2. Motionless, still: luce fissa, a steady light.^[6][14]
3. Of a person, settled permanently in a place.^[6][14]
4. Of a look, intent, directed steadily at someone or something; of thoughts, concentrated on one thing.^[6][15][16]
5. Firm, resolute in a purpose.^[6][17]
6. Constant, regular, unvarying: stipendio fisso, cliente fisso.^[6][17]
7. Always present in the mind;^[6][12][15] idea fissa, chiodo fisso, an obsession.^[6][12][15]
8. (obsolete) Nailed; pierced.^[6][12]

Adverb

1. Fixedly, intently: guardare fisso.^[6][1]

Noun

1. A fixed salary or allowance.^[6][1]
2. A landline telephone.^[17][3][1]

Word family

• fissabile
• fissaggio
• fissare
• fissativo
• fissato
• fissatore
• fissazione
• fissismo
• fissità
• fissa
• prefissare
• fissamente
• fissezza
• semifisso

Related words

• figgere
• fitto
• fiso
• Latin fīgō
• French fixe

Usage notes

Fisso is also the first person singular present of fissare.^[1] DEI lists a separate Old Italian fisso “bent”, from Latin flexus, recorded in the 13th century and common as a place-name element (Flexo in Tuscany from the 8th century).^[18] Fixed expressions include stelle fisse, disco fisso (hard disk) and prezzo fisso.^[6][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b 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. 1657
12. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
18. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1635