forma

Forms

forma f (plural forme)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin forma (“form, shape; mould; beauty”).^[1][2][3][4] DELI, however, classes it with its derivatives among the learned words taken from Latin.^[5] The word is found across Romance: French forme, Occitan forma, Catalan forma, Spanish horma (“shoemaker's last”), Portuguese forma, Sardinian fròmma and Romanian formă, the last a learned form.^[2][6] From Italian it passed into Turkish for a printer's forme and into the Arabic of Syria and Palestine for a shoe last.^[7]

The origin of Latin “forma” is not settled.^[8][1] Its first vowel was probably lengthened late before /r/ and a consonant.^[8] Because formīca (“ant”) and formīdō (“fear; scarecrow”) show an older *m*–*m* changed to *f*–*m*, it may go back to *morma, a borrowing of Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “shape”), perhaps through Etruscan, or both words may come from a third language.^[8][2][7][9]

The sporting sense, as in “essere in forma”, is new: Panzini (1908) thought it arose because English performance was hard to pronounce, while Klajn derives it straight from English form.^[5] DEI also treats it as a calque of the English word.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated sense is physical beauty, in Bonagiunta Orbicciani, who died before 1257; in 1282 Restoro d'Arezzo uses forma for the universal principle opposed to matter, and Bono Giamboni, before 1292, for a person's bodily build.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The outward shape of a thing is in Giordano da Pisa around 1304, who praises “so many beautiful forms” made for the delight of the eye.^[5][10] Dino Compagni, in 1310–1312, already has forma for a way of living, for the constitution of a state and for a mould used to shape things.^[5] Dante used it for the philosophical form, the essential principle of a being.^[7]

Technical senses followed: the cheese made in a mould and the mould itself (1350 and 1561), the shoemaker's last and the hat block (14th century), the grammatical form of a word in Pietro Bembo (1525), and the printer's forme in Tommaso Garzoni (1585).^[5][7] In the 20th century forma came to mean an athlete's or a racehorse's condition (1902, Alfredo Oriani) and then anyone's good physical and mental state (1961, Paolo Monelli).^[5]

Latin formōsus (“beautiful”) gave way to bello in Italian, but lives on in Spanish hermoso, Portuguese formoso and Romanian frumos, and in some Friulian place names.^[5] Through Old French formage the word is also behind formaggio.^[6]

Timeline

• Before 1257 – Bonagiunta Orbicciani uses forma for beauty.^[5]
• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses it for form as opposed to matter.^[5]
• c. 1304 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for the outward shape of things.^[5]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses it for a way of life, the form of a state and a mould.^[5]
• c. 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi uses it for a whole cheese.^[5]
• 1525 – Pietro Bembo uses it for the form of a word.^[5]
• 1585 – Tommaso Garzoni uses it for the printer's forme.^[5]
• 1902 – Alfredo Oriani uses it for an athlete's condition.^[5]
• 1961 – Paolo Monelli uses it for a person's good shape.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. shape, outward appearance, as given by the outline or surface of a thing: un vaso dalla forma allungata.^[3][11][12]
2. (chiefly plural) The lines of the human body, especially the curves of a woman's figure.^[3][11][4]
3. A vague, indistinct figure: una forma scura in fondo al corridoio.^[3][12]
4. A kind, type or way in which something exists or shows itself: forme di governo, una forma lieve della malattia.^[3][11][4]
5. The way something is expressed, as against its content; style.^[11][12][4]
6. A literary, metrical or musical scheme: un poema in forma di dialogo.^[11][12]
7. Correct manners, (plural) social conventions: salvare le forme.^[4][13]
8. (philosophy) Form, the principle that gives matter its being, in its various senses from Plato and Aristotle to Kant.^[14][4]
9. (grammar) The form of a word in its inflection.^[5][15]
10. A mould or block for shaping something, such as a shoemaker's last or a printer's forme.^[5][1][7]
11. A whole cheese made in a round mould: una forma di pecorino stagionato.^[5][15]
12. (sport) Condition, fitness: essere in forma, to be fit, to feel well.^[5][4]

Word family

• formare
• formale
• formalità
• formalismo
• formalizzare
• formato
• formazione
• formella
• formina
• formoso
• informale

Related words

• formaggio
• formula
• Latin forma

Usage notes

DEI lists an old homograph forma “ditch, channel”, recorded at Ravenna in the 10th century and at Rome as furma in 1195, and still alive in central and southern dialects; it continues the Latin word in the sense of a channel for water, found already in Pliny.^[7][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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 Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1689
8. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org