fondare

Forms

fondare (first-person singular present fóndo, first-person singular past historic fondài, past participle fondàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fundāre (“to lay the bottom of, found”), formed from fundus (“bottom; farm, estate”).^[2][3][4][1] The same verb is French fonder, Occitan fondar, Catalan fondar and Logudorese fundare, while Spanish fundar and Portuguese fundar are learned.^[3][5][6] Several derivatives were taken from Latin: fondamento from fundāmentum, fondatore from fundātor and fondazione from fundātiō.^[2][3]

According to de Vaan, Latin fundus comes from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰ-n-ó- (“bottom”), with the nasal moved into the root.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Sienese poet Ruggieri Apugliese, in the middle of the 13th century, in the sense of digging the trench for a building and laying its foundations.^[8] DELI's earliest date is Giamboni, before 1292, who writes of the man who builds his house on sand.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb also meant to build a city from its base, to fix a heavenly body in its place, and to set up an institution.^[8] It could also mean to push something in deep or to sink it, a sense GRADIT keeps as rare.^[8][4] The figurative sense of setting down principles is in Boccaccio in 1353, and founding a religious order or an institution before 1375.^[2] The reflexive fondarsi, to rely on something, is first found in Morelli, before 1444.^[2]

A Tuscan proverb collected by Tommaseo says Chi fonda sul popolo, fonda sulla rena, “whoever builds on the people builds on sand”.^[10] Fondare sulla sabbia still means to do work that will not last.^[11][12]

Timeline

• Mid-13th century – Ruggieri Apugliese uses fondare.^[8]
• Before 1292 – Giamboni uses it of laying a building's foundations.^[2]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses it for laying down principles.^[2]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses it for founding an institution.^[2]
• Before 1444 – Morelli uses fondarsi “to rely on”.^[2]
• 1559 – Fondazione is recorded, in Cavalcanti.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lay the foundations of a building; also without an object: qui il terreno è buono per fondare.^[4][11][13]
2. To found a city or a colony, to build its first core: fondare un villaggio.^[4][11][12]
3. To establish, set up an institution, a party or a school of thought: fondare un circolo.^[4][11][13]
4. (figurative) To base, ground (on): fondare un'accusa su pochi indizi.^[4][11][14]
5. (rare) To sink, affondare.^[4][14]

Word family

• fondamento
• fondato
• fondatore
• fondazione
• fondamentale
• fondatezza
• fondamentalismo
• fondamentalista
• infondato
• infondatezza
• fondazionale
• fondarsi
• rifondare
• fondabile

Related words

• affondare
• fondo
• Latin fundus

Usage notes

The pronominal fondarsi means to be based on something or to rely on it.^[11][13] Old Italian had another fondare, “to shoot with a sling”, from fonda “sling”, recorded in the Intelligenza around 1300.^[8][9][10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1680
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli