follone

Forms

follone m (plural folloni)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian follon, Old Italian folone and Old Italian fullone.^[2] The form fullone is also used of fullers in antiquity.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fullō (“fuller, launderer”).^[5][6][4] The GDLI treats it as a learned word.^[7] The same word is Old French foulon, recorded in the 12th century.^[8][9][10]

The origin of the Latin word is unknown: it has no Indo-European connections, and no known root with the vowel /u/ explains it.^[11][6][12] DEI thinks it probably of Etruscan origin.^[8] Nocentini recalls that fullers washed cloth by treading and stirring it with their feet.^[6]

The sense “fulling machine, fulling mill” is not found in classical Latin, but appears in the Medieval Latin of Padua in the 13th century and of Verona in 1319.^[5] Treccani instead derives the machine sense from follare.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Sienese document of 1263.^[2] There the word names a person who beat cloth over and over to soften, even out or wash it.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the folloni were a trade of their own: Giovanni Villani names tesserandoli e folloni di drappi (“weavers and fullers of cloth”), and in Matteo Villani they lead a revolt of the guilds.^[13][7][9] The TLIO also records the word for a kind of knife.^[2] The Tuscan place name Follonica comes from the related Latin fullonica (“fuller's workshop”).^[8][13][12]

The worker's sense has gone out of use.^[7][4] The machine sense is first recorded in Italian in Carena in 1853, and it is now the main one.^[5][14] Older machines used hammers, and modern ones press the cloth between rollers.^[3][7] Terra da follone (fuller's earth) is a degreasing clay once used in fulling.^[3][7]

Timeline

• 1263 – The word appears in a Sienese document.^[2]
• 13th century – Medieval Latin at Padua uses it for a fulling machine or mill.^[5]
• 1319 – The same Medieval Latin sense is recorded at Verona.^[5]
• Before 1348 – The date Zingarelli gives for the word.^[4]
• 1853 – Carena records follone for the fulling machine.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (textiles) A fulling machine for wool cloth or felt, with rollers or, formerly, hammers: follone a cilindri.^{[14][15][16][4]}
2. (uncommon) A worker who operates a fulling machine: folloniere.^[14][17]
3. (historical) A fuller: a worker who washed, cleaned and thickened cloth.^[14][4][3]

Word family

• folloniere

Related words

• follare
• follatura
• gualchiera
• Latin fullo
• Old French foulon

Usage notes

Fulling mill in Italian is also gualchiera, the name of the old hammer machine.^[3]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1679
9. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 452
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 187
12. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
15. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli