foia

Forms

foia f (plural foie)^[1] An old variant is fuia.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin furia (“rage, frenzy; blind passion”), the popular outcome of the Latin word, beside the learned doublet furia.^[3][4][1] The sense narrowed to sexual frenzy.^[4][5] The ending follows the Tuscan rule that turns -uria into -oia.^[6] The Latin noun lives on also in Romansh fuergia of the Engadine.^[7]

The Latin noun is formed from Latin furō (“to rave, be mad”) with the suffix -ia.^[1] Many etymologies have been proposed for the verb, none clearly better than the others.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Rustico, before 1300, in a sonnet that threatens to reveal a woman's “lust that has so risen in you” (la foia che tanto v'è montata).^[3][2] The sense is lust, a strong urge to satisfy the senses.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed in burlesque and comic writing: Machiavelli, Berni and Salvator Rosa use it of human lust, and Rosa also of la foia della guerra e della stampa, a mania for war and print.^[2][9] Today it is said above all of animals in heat, and of people only with contempt; the extended sense of an immoderate desire, foia di potere, is literary or rare.^[10][11][12]

Timeline

• Before 1300 – Rustico uses foia.^[3]
• 1534 – Infoiato is first recorded.^[4]
• 17th century – Foioso is recorded.^[7]
• 1927 – Infoiare is first recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. heat, rut: sexual excitement, especially of animals: la gatta è in foia.^[12][10][13]
2. (by extension) An immoderate, frantic craving: la foia del guadagno.^[12][10][14]

Word family

• infoiare
• infoiato
• foioso

Related words

• furia
• furore

Usage notes

Essere in foia is said especially of an animal.^[13][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1676
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. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli