fragola

Forms

fragola f (plural fragole, diminutive fragolétta or fragolìna, augmentative fragolóna or fragolóne m)^[1] Old Italian forms include fravole, fraole and fragure.^[2] The popular Tuscan fravola is still listed beside the standard form.^[3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *frāgula, a diminutive of Late Latin frāga (“strawberries”).^[6][7][1][8] Nocentini explains the base as the plural of classical frāgum (“strawberry”), taken as a feminine singular in late Latin.^[7][3] The undiminished form survives in old and dialect fraga, recorded in the mountains of Pistoia and in Trentino.^[9]

From the plural come French fraise, which passed into Spanish fresa, and Romanian fragă.^[7][10] The diminutive itself gave dialect forms such as Piedmontese frola, Friulian freule and Emilian fraola.^[11]

The origin of the Latin word is unclear: DELI calls it pre-Indo-European.^[6] De Vaan notes that its meaning closely matches Albanian dredhë (“strawberry”), and that both may go back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰrHǵ-o-.^[12] He doubts, however, that the word meant “strawberry” in Proto-Indo-European, and thinks it may be a loanword.^[12] A connection with Ancient Greek ῥάξ (rháx, “grape”) is also possible; it would point to a third, perhaps non-Indo-European, language as the source of both words.^[12][7] Nocentini also mentions Ancient Greek βράβυλον (brábulon, “sloe”) and Latin frāgrō (“to smell sweetly”) as possible relatives.^[7]

The popular fravola has a /v/ inserted to avoid the hiatus left when the /g/ between vowels weakened.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Medieval Latin fragula is recorded in 1295.^[8] The first Italian record is in Zucchero's Santà, a Florentine text of 1310, where the word names the strawberry plant and its red, heart-shaped fruit.^[2] DELI's earliest examples are Boccaccio's fravola (1341–1342) and fragola in the 14th-century Italian version of Quintilian.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also had erba fragola as a name of the plant itself.^[2] Boccaccio lists fravole e bozzacchioni (“strawberries and unripe plums”) among the fruits kept for a beloved, and the Quintilian translation speaks of còr le fragole (“picking strawberries”).^[13] Lorenzo de' Medici writes of strawberries picked in a flowering meadow, belle e rosse (“fine and red”).^[13]

From the 16th century the word named other red things: fragolino, recorded in 1561, is a red sea bream and a red wine, named for the colour.^[7][9] Uva fragola is an American vine, Vitis labrusca, with a sweet, scented grape.^[14][5] As an invariable noun and adjective, fragola also names a light crimson colour.^[8][14]

Italian passed the word to Arabic as فَرَاوْلَة (farāwla), to Byzantine Greek as φράγουλα (frágoula) (whence Modern Greek φράουλα (fráoula)) and to Sardinian as fràgula.^[1]

Timeline

• 1295 – Medieval Latin fragula is recorded.^[8]
• 1310 – First Italian record, in Zucchero's Santà (Florentine).^[2]
• 1341–1342 – Boccaccio uses the popular form fravola.^[6][8]
• 14th century – Fragola appears in the Italian version of Quintilian.^[6]
• 1561 – Fragolino is recorded, for a fish and a red wine.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. strawberry: the sweet, scented, bright red fruit of the plant, which is really a swollen receptacle carrying small seed-like fruits: una torta alle fragole.^{[8][14][3][1]}
2. (botany) The strawberry plant, of the genus Fragaria, especially the wild strawberry Fragaria vesca, with leaves of three leaflets and white flowers.^[8][3][15]
3. (masculine, invariable) Strawberry, a light crimson colour.^[8][14][1]

Adjective

1. (invariable, after the noun) Strawberry-coloured: una gonna rosa fragola.^[8][5][1]

Word family

• fragolino
• fragolone
• fragolaccia
• fragolaia
• fragolaio
• fragolata
• fragolato
• fragoleto
• fragolina

Related words

• fraga
• fravola
• Latin frāgum
• French fraise

Usage notes

The plural is fragole; as a colour the word does not change and follows its noun (rosso fragola, rosa fragola).^[5][1] Fragola di bosco is the wild strawberry, and uva fragola the American grape Vitis labrusca.^[8][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 460
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 272
14. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana