fragile

Forms

fragile m or f by sense (plural fragili, superlative fragilissimo)^[1] Old Italian forms include fragele, fragel and frazele, and, with /l/ for /r/, flagele.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin fragilis (“breakable”), formed on frangō (“to break”) with -ilis.^{[4][5][6][1][7]} Devoto saw it as a verbal adjective of a verb with a nasal infix, on the pattern of facilis beside faciō.^[8]

The inherited counterpart is frale, which Meyer-Lübke takes from Old French fraile.^[9][10] The same Latin adjective survives in Old Italian fraolo, in Lombard fragol and in Romansh fraschel of the Upper Engadine.^[9] The learned word is also French fragile, beside the popular French frêle, and Spanish frágil.^[5][9]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *fragelis.^[1] De Vaan derives the verb from a nasal present Proto-Indo-European *bʰr-n-ǵ- (“to break”), beside Old High German brehhan (“to break”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Lombard Istoria of the Pseudo-Uguccione, from the first half of the 13th century.^[2] DELI's earliest sense is “weak, frail, delicate”, in B. Giamboni before 1292, and the sense “easily broken” follows in Arrighetto (1304–1313): Come con fragile tela la tessitrice ragna tesse, con così fragile trama si tesse la nostra vita (“As the weaver spider weaves with a fragile web, so with a fragile weft our life is woven”).^[4][12]

Semantic evolution

Isidore explained the Latin word as what “can easily be broken”.^[12] In Old Italian fragile meant breakable, of earthenware that crumbles, and weak or lacking strength, also of the human faculties and even of a light breeze.^[2] The moral sense, “easily yielding to vice and temptation”, is in Giordano da Pisa about 1304, and “short-lived” in Alberto della Piagentina before 1332.^[4] Petrarch speaks of questo nostro caduco e fragil bene (“this fleeting and fragile good of ours”).^[13] The TLIO also records it of an argument that is easily refuted.^[2]

The noun fragilità followed, in D. Cavalca before 1342.^[4] Tommaseo noted the phrase sesso fragile.^[13] Today fragile! is the warning on parcels of delicate goods, and medicine speaks of a soggetto fragile, a person especially vulnerable to an illness.^[14][6]

Timeline

• First half of the 13th century – First record, in the Lombard Istoria of the Pseudo-Uguccione.^[2]
• Before 1292 – B. Giamboni uses it for “weak, frail”.^[4]
• About 1304 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for “yielding to temptation”.^[4]
• 1304–1313 – Arrighetto uses it for “easily broken”.^[4]
• Before 1332 – Alberto della Piagentina uses it for “short-lived”.^[4]
• Before 1342 – D. Cavalca uses fragilità.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. fragile, easily broken;^[6][14][10] fragile! is written on boxes holding delicate objects.^[6][14][10]
2. Of weak constitution, frail, delicate: Dopo la malattia è rimasto fragile di salute.^[6][14][15]
3. (figurative) Yielding easily to vice and temptation: Si sentiva troppo fragile per resistere alla tentazione..^[6][14][16]
4. (figurative) Of an argument or theory: weak, with little substance.^[6][16][17]
5. (figurative) Short-lived, ephemeral: Era una speranza fragile, durata un giorno.^[6][14][10]
6. (medicine) Of a person: especially vulnerable to an illness, mostly because of poor health.^[14]

Word family

• fragilità
• fragilmente
• infragilire

Related words

• frale
• frangere
• Latin fragilis
• French frêle

Usage notes

Fragile is the learned word beside the popular frale.^[10] Fragile di nervi describes someone who easily loses self-control.^[6][14]

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. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1702
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ^ 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
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli