fornace

Forms

fornace f (plural fornaci)^[1] Old Italian forms include fornaxe, Old Italian fornase, Old Italian fornaça and Old Italian furnace.^[2] The northern dialects have forms such as Venetian fornasa.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fornāx (“furnace, kiln”), also spelled furnāx, from fornus (“oven”), also furnus.^[4][5][1] The GDLI calls it a learned word, noting that in Latin it had become a synonym of the word for “oven”.^[6] Devoto saw in it a crossing of that word with Latin formus (“warm”) and Latin fornix (“arch, vault”);^[7][8] Treccani takes it as probably akin to the adjective for “warm”.^[7][8]

The word is found in the Romance languages except Romanian: French fournaise, Occitan fornatz, Catalan fornas, Spanish hornaza and Portuguese fornaça.^[5][9][3] The northern dialect forms show the same change of ending as the modern French word beside Old French fornais, and as the Spanish one.^[3] The Latin word was borrowed into Old High German furnache.^[3]

The Latin word for “oven” goes back to Proto-Italic *fornos and Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰr̥nós, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰer- (“to be warm”); the form with /o/ was the older one, and the raising to /u/ was perhaps dialectal.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Libro of Uguccione da Lodi, early in the 13th century, and the word is in the Novellino at the end of the century.^[2][4] The sense is a masonry kiln, with one or more openings, for burning lime or firing pottery and bricks.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the word of a furnace for working metal, of the fire of martyrdom, and of any source of fire.^[2] Dante writes E giammai non si videro in fornace / Vetri o metalli sì lucenti e rossi, “never were glass or metals seen so bright and red in a furnace”.^[11] The Medieval Latin fornasarius of Piacenza (1255) comes before Italian fornaciaio, a kiln worker, in the Novellino.^[4] A place name Fornacla is recorded in 981.^[12]

The figurative sense of an oppressively hot place is first recorded in Silvio Pellico in 1832.^[4] In technical use the word has largely been replaced by forno.^[8] The fornace Hoffmann is a continuous kiln for firing bricks.^[13]

Timeline

• 981 – The place name Fornacla is recorded.^[12]
• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses fornace.^[2]
• 1255 – Medieval Latin fornasarius is recorded at Piacenza.^[4]
• 1266 – Zingarelli dates the word to this year.^[14]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino has fornace and fornaciaio.^[4]
• 1832 – Silvio Pellico uses the word for a very hot place.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A kiln, usually of masonry, in which limestone, gypsum or clay are burned or fired to make building materials: una fornace per laterizi.^[15][13][16]
2. A works with one or more kilns; a brickworks.^[15][17][14]
3. (figurative) An extremely hot place: in agosto l'ufficio diventa una fornace.^[15][13][17]

Word family

• fornaciaio
• fornaciata
• fornacino
• fornacella

Related words

• forno
• fornello
• fornaio
• Latin fornāx

Usage notes

Fornace solare is a solar furnace.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1692
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
13. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
17. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse