fola

Forms

fola f (plural fole)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *faula, a syncopated form of Latin fābula (“talk; story, tale”).^[1][2][3][4] The /b/ was lost between vowels in the northern way, and the resulting form contracted, as Latin parabola became parola.^[5] The same Latin word gave the inherited fiaba, through a form with metathesis, and favola.^[1][6] DELI quotes Migliorini's view that a popular tradition favouring syncope and a more conservative one lived side by side for centuries.^[7] Elsewhere the syncopated form is Old Occitan faula and Sardinian faula “lie”.^[3][6][4]

DEI explains the sense as passing from “conversation” to “invented story”, as opposed to facta “real events”.^[4] The Latin noun is formed from the root of for (“to speak”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”), with an instrument suffix.^[8][9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Splanamento of Patecchio of Cremona, of the 13th century.^[10] DELI dates “lie” to Boccaccio, about 1338, and “fairy tale” to Petrarch, before 1374.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian fola was first a statement not true to fact, whether imagined or meant to deceive, and a vain, senseless thing of the world; then an invented story with fantastic elements, often sung, and the fables of classical literature, seen as worthless.^[10] Petrarch's line sogno d'infermi e fola di romanzi (“a sick man's dream and a tale of romances”) set the literary use.^[7][11]

Tommaseo noted fola as the Genoese word for a folk tale;^[12][4] DEI finds the living area of the word in the north (Genoese fòa, Trentino fòla).^[12][4] In the standard language it is literary for “fable, fancy” and, mostly in the plural, a word for tall stories.^[13][14][15]

Timeline

• 13th century – Patecchio of Cremona uses fola.^[10]
• c. 1338 – Boccaccio uses it for “lie”.^[7]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses it for “fairy tale”.^[7]
• 1491 – Fola is recorded in Lunigiana for a reserved common (bandita).^[16]
• 1579 – Fola “mêlée in a joust” is recorded.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) A fable, fairy tale; a fancy, idle dream.^[13][14][15]
2. A false story, fib, piece of gossip, mostly in the plural: Smettila di raccontare fole.^[13][14][15]
3. (by extension) A trifle.^[17]

Related words

• favola
• fiaba
• parola
• Latin fābula

Usage notes

GRADIT, Devoto–Oli and Treccani list a separate obsolete fola (1579) from Provençal fola, a noun from the verb meaning “to trample”: the disordered clash of several horsemen at the end of a joust, and by extension a crowd or throng.^{[13][14][18][11]} DEI also records a regional fola of Lunigiana, Reggio Emilia and Cadore, meadows or woods held in common under neighbourly rules, from fabula in the sense of a sworn agreement.^[4][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1676
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
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. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 451
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
18. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)