folle

Forms

folle m or f by sense (plural folli)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian fol, Old Italian follo and Old Italian folo.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin follis (“leather bag, bellows; ball”), through its accusative.^[3][4][5][1] The meaning passed by metaphor from a bag full of air or a ball to an empty head, and so to a fool.^[3][4][6] DEI notes that the word was already used as an adjective in 6th-century France, in the “Life of Caesarius of Arles”.^[7] Nocentini calls it a Romance formation from the Latin word, shared with French fou and Occitan fol;^[4] Catalan foll belongs here too, and Spanish fol was borrowed from Occitan.^[8][9][7] Zaccaria reported older proposals of a Germanic origin, such as a word for “full, drunk”, but the Latin etymology is accepted by all the modern dictionaries.^[10][3][4]

The literal sense of the Latin word lives on in Spanish fuelle (“bellows”), Portuguese folle, Romanian foale, Sardinian foḍḍe and Venetian folo, from which come Italian folata and refolo.^[4][9]

The Latin noun is related to flō (“to blow”) and has close comparisons in Old High German ballo (“ball”) and Old Norse bǫllr.^[4][11] Wiktionary derives it from the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- (“to swell”) or Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow”); de Vaan compares only Celtic words and leaves the origin open.^[1][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur of the late 12th century.^[2] DELI's earliest dates are before 1249 in Pier della Vigna, of something done without sense, and before 1250 in Giacomo da Lentini, of a person who acts without reason, “mad”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian folle meant mad from illness, but also rash, foolish, mad with love, insolent, and, of love, carnal or lustful.^[2] Giovanni Villani writes of un folle e matto cavaliere who rose up in a time of turmoil, and an old proverb says chi folle invia, folle attende (“send a fool, expect a fool”), that errands should be given to the wise.^[13] Derivatives appeared early: folleggiare in the early 13th century, follia before 1250, and folletto, a sprite, in Dante.^[3]

In 1892 the word took on a mechanical sense: a part that turns idle without passing on the motion.^[3][14] From it comes in folle, of a gearbox in neutral.^[15][14] In colloquial speech folle also means huge or excessive, as in a prezzo folle.^[5][6] Amare alla follia copies French aimer à la folie, criticized by Panzini in 1905.^[3]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The word appears in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur.^[2]
• Before 1249 – Pier della Vigna uses folle of a senseless deed.^[3]
• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses it of a person, “mad”, follia appears at the same time.^[3]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the derivative folletto.^[3]
• 1838 – Invaghito alla follia (“madly infatuated”) is recorded in the Milanese press.^[3]
• 1892 – The mechanical sense “turning idle” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. mad, insane, out of one's mind; also as a noun, a madman or madwoman: Lo guardava con gli occhi di un folle.^[5][6][15]
2. Rash, reckless, irrational: Sei stato folle a guidare con questa nebbia.^[5][6][16]
3. Beside oneself with a feeling (folle di gelosia); essere folle di qualcuno is to be madly in love with them.^[5][6]
4. Of an act or an idea, senseless, foolish: un progetto folle.^[5][14][17]
5. Of a feeling, uncontrollable: un desiderio folle.^[5][6][14]
6. (colloquial) Very great; excessive, exorbitant: una fretta folle, prezzi folli.^[5][6][16]
7. (mechanics) Of a gear or wheel, turning idle, disengaged, in folle means in neutral.^[5][15][14]

Word family

• folleggiare
• folleggiatore
• folletto
• follia
• follemente

Related words

• folata
• French fou
• Latin follis

Usage notes

Folle is pronounced with an open o, and also with a closed one.^[1][17] Several rarer words share the spelling: the archaic noun folle “bellows”, a learned borrowing of the same Latin word (Tasso compares the lung to mantice o folle),^{[4][5][18][15]} the folle, a bronze coin of the late Roman Empire and Byzantium,^[5][18][19] and folle bianca, a vine grape, from French folle-blanche (1956).^[5][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 g h i j k l 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 e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
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 f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1678
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
19. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1679