forbici

Forms

forbici f pl (plural only)^[1] The singular forbice is used mostly for the economic and figurative senses; for the tool it is old and regional.^[2][3] Old Italian forms include forfici, forfice and forfese.^[4] Dante's Old Italian force is a French form.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *forbex, in the plural of forbice: a spoken form of Latin forfex (“shears, scissors”).^[5][3][7][8] Wiktionary takes it straight from the plural forficēs.^[1] The Latin plural was already the usual form.^[8]

The /b/ is explained in several ways.^[9][4][10] DEI sees a dissimilation, also found in the north, with forms such as Medieval Latin forbex at Ravenna in 1305 and Emilian forbeze at Modena in the 14th century.^[9] The TLIO allows either a Vulgar Latin form with /b/ or the influence of forbire (“to polish”), and perhaps of forcipe.^[4] Nocentini rejects the reconstructed form, since the other Romance languages continue the form with /f/; he sees a blend of forfex with forceps (“smith's tongs”), through Latin forpex, with metathesis.^[10] DEI notes that this form is found in Columella.^[9]

The same word is Romanian foarfece, French forces (“shears”), Occitan forfe and Sardinian forfighe.^[10][11][12] In many dialects it also names the earwig.^[11]

De Vaan derives the Latin word from Proto-Italic *forþo- (“shearing”) and Proto-Indo-European *bʰr̥dʰ-o-, and compares an Umbrian verb that may mean “to shear” and Ancient Greek πέρθω (pérthō, “to sack, destroy”).^[13] Nocentini also gives the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰerdʰ- (“to cut”) and takes the internal /f/ as a sign of an Osco-Umbrian origin.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record of forbici is in the Nuovi testi fiorentini (1281–1297); the singular follows before 1348 in Francesco da Barberino.^[5] The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur.^[4] The sense is the cutting tool of two pivoted blades with a ring for the thumb and a finger.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word also covered gripping tools: a smith's tongs, pincers for castrating calves and snuffers for candles.^[4] An army drawn up in a V was a forbice.^[4] Isidore of Seville had already tried to tell apart forfices, forpices and forcipes by their uses.^[8]

Redi, before 1698, calls the claws of crabs and scorpions forbici.^[5] The diminutive forbicina named the earwig before 1730, for the pincers at the end of its body.^[5] The modern language uses the scissors for censorship (le forbici della censura) and the singular for a widening gap between two figures, such as prices.^[3][7] The exclamation Fòrbici!, said to a stubborn person, comes from an anecdote.^[6]

Timeline

• 1281–1297 – Forbici appears in the Nuovi testi fiorentini.^[5]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses force.^[5]
• Before 1348 – Francesco da Barberino uses the singular forbice.^[5][3]
• Before 1675 – Forbiciata, a cut with scissors, is recorded.^[5]
• Before 1698 – Redi uses the word for the claws of crabs and scorpions.^[5]
• Before 1730 – Forbicina is recorded for the earwig.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. scissors: a cutting tool of two crossed steel blades joined by a pivot, with rings for the fingers: mi presti le forbici?^{[1][3][7][14]}
2. shears, larger scissors for gardening, tailoring or surgery.^[1][7][15]
3. (figurative) Cuts made in a text or film: le forbici della censura.^[3][7][14]
4. (popular) The claws of crabs, scorpions and similar animals.^[3][15][16]

Word family

• forbicina
• forbiciata
• sforbiciare
• sforbiciata

Related words

• forbice
• forfecchia
• forcipe
• Latin forfex
• French forces

Usage notes

The tool is un paio di forbici, “a pair of scissors”.^[3][2] Of a backbiter it is said that his tongue cuts like scissors.^[3][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 455
7. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1685
10. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse