foglio

Forms

foglio m (plural fogli)^[1] An old form is Old Italian folio.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin folium (“leaf”), which in Late Latin also meant “sheet of paper”.^[3][4][5][1] Isidore already uses the Latin word for a sheet of papyrus in place of tabella, and a Cologne manuscript of the 8th century has the feminine folia in this sense, foreshadowing French usage.^[6] The GDLI calls the Italian noun a learned word, but Sabatini–Coletti point out that the Latin cluster /lj/ became /ʎ/ in the regular Tuscan way.^[2][7]

The masculine word survives in Old French fueil, Occitan folh, Catalan full and Portuguese folho, beside the feminine type of foglia, French feuille and Spanish hoja, taken from the Latin plural.^[3][8] The DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance neuter “leaf” as the common source of both types.^[9] Italian marks the difference between “sheet” and “leaf” by gender, which French and Spanish, with only the feminine for both, do not.^[3]

The Latin noun has traditionally been derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰolh₃yom (“leaf”) and compared with Ancient Greek φύλλον (phúllon, “leaf”) and flōs (“flower”).^[3][1] De Vaan, following Driessen, prefers Proto-Indo-European *dʰolh₁yom, from the root of Ancient Greek θάλλω (thállō, “to bloom”) and Welsh dail (“foliage”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the poems of Angiolieri, before 1313, with the sense “piece of paper”: all his grief, he says, would not fit written su 'n un foglio (“on a sheet”) even if the whole Bible could go in it.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Tasso uses foglio for a printed page in 1591, and since the 17th century it also means a newspaper, a sense Prati marks as no longer used.^[4][6][11] The diminutive foglietto, a small sheet, is recorded before 1484 in Pulci, then as a bulletin or circular before 1694 and as a membrane in anatomy in 1892.^[4][3]

Modern Italian uses foglio also for a form or document (foglio di via, the order sending a person back to their home town, foglio rosa, the provisional driving permit), for a banknote in colloquial speech, and for any thin sheet of material, including rolled-out pasta.^[5][12][13] DEI notes that German Blatt in the sense “leaf of a book” is a calque of the Medieval Latin usage.^[6]

Timeline

• 8th century – A Cologne manuscript has Latin folia for a written sheet.^[6]
• Before 1313 – Angiolieri uses foglio for a sheet of paper.^[4][2]
• Before 1484 – Pulci uses foglietto.^[4][3]
• 1591 – Tasso uses foglio for a printed page.^[4]
• 17th century – Foglio is used for a newspaper.^[6]
• Before 1694 – Foglietto means a bulletin or circular, in Segneri.^[4]
• 1869 – Interfoglio and interfogliare are recorded.^[3]
• 1892 – Foglietto is used in anatomy for a membrane.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sheet of paper, usually rectangular: Mi presti un foglio a righe?^[5][14][12]
2. A page or leaf of a notebook or book.^[5][15]
3. A printed sheet handed out for information or advertising;^[5] foglio di istruzioni, instruction leaflet.^[5]
4. A newspaper, often disparagingly.^[5][7][13]
5. (bibliography) A sheet of paper or parchment folded in two to make two leaves;^[5][16] in foglio, the folio format.^[5][16]
6. A document or form: foglio di via, foglio rosa.^[5][12][13]
7. (colloquial) A banknote.^[5][7][13]
8. A thin sheet of any material; a sheet of rolled-out pasta: un foglio di rame.^[5][7][12]

Word family

• foglietto
• fogliaccio
• sfogliare
• interfoglio
• interfogliare

Related words

• foglia
• Latin folium
• French feuille

Usage notes

Foglio (masculine) is the sheet of paper and foglia (feminine) the leaf of a plant.^[3] The plural is fogli.^[1][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1675
7. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 450
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)