Etymologically
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francese

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Pronunciation

  • /franˈt͡ʃe.ze/[1]

Forms

francese m or f by sense (plural francesi)[1] Old Italian also had franzese, which survived as an archaic form, and francioso, modelled on Old French françois.[2][3][4] Dante uses francesco for “French”.[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French franceis, recorded in 1080 and formed from France, the land the Franks occupied.[2][6][7] The name first meant a small region north of Paris, then the domain of the first Capetian kings and finally the whole territory they ruled.[2] Its source is Late Latin Francia (“land of the Franks”), a name that gradually replaced Gallia in the early Middle Ages.[3] The modern form is French français.[8]

Meyer-Lübke traced the Italian word, with Spanish francés and Portuguese francês, to Old Occitan franses rather than to French.[9] DEI derives the Old Occitan and French forms from a Late Latin Franciscus.[10] Wiktionary also analyses the word within Italian as Francia with the suffix -ese.[1]

According to Sabatini and Coletti, the old form with ⟨z⟩ reproduces the hissing /ts/ that the Gallo-Romance dialects kept where the sound had not become a palatal.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Brunetto Latini's Tesoretto, written before 1274 in Florence, with the senses “of France, coming from France” and, as a noun, “a native of France”.[4] DELI dates the form franzese to before 1310, in the poet Cione, and francese to before 1504, in Pandolfo Collenuccio.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the plural francesi could also refer to the peoples of ancient Gaul.[4] The use for the language, il francese, is recorded by Tommaseo, who notes that until the 12th century the king of France was styled re de' Francesi, king of the French.[11]

Mal francese, “the French disease”, was syphilis, so called because it was blamed on the troops of Charles VIII, who came down into Italy in 1494 to conquer the Kingdom of Naples.[2][3] It is recorded in the 16th century, in Bembo, and the older francioso could mean the disease itself.[10][5] Andarsene alla francese meant leaving a party after saying goodbye to the hostess only, so as not to disturb the other guests.[10][12]

Derivatives followed from the 17th century: francesismo, a French word or phrase taken into another language, from 1690 in Lorenzo Magalotti, and francesista, first a supporter of French usage (1800) and then a specialist in French language and literature (1942).[2][3] Romanian borrowed the Italian word as Romanian francez.[1]

Timeline

  • 1080 – Old French franceis is recorded.[2][6]
  • Before 1274 – Brunetto Latini uses francese in the Tesoretto.[4]
  • Before 1310 – The form franzese appears in Cione.[2]
  • 1494 – The French army of Charles VIII invades Italy, and the mal francese is named after it.[2][3]
  • Before 1504 – Pandolfo Collenuccio writes francese.[2]
  • 1690 – Francesismo (as franzesismo) appears in Lorenzo Magalotti.[2]
  • 1942 – Francesista is recorded for a scholar of French.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. French, of or from France: il vino francese.[6][13][7]
  2. (in phrases) alla francese, in the French manner, and nasino alla francese, a slightly turned-up nose.[13][14][8]

Noun

  1. A native or inhabitant of France, a Frenchman or Frenchwoman.[6][13][7]
  2. (masculine, singular only) The French language: Mia nonna leggeva Proust in francese.[6][13][7]
  3. (masculine, singular only) French as a school subject.[6][13][8]

Word family

  • francesismo
  • francesista
  • francesina
  • francesizzare
  • francesità
  • franceseria
  • infrancesare
  • antifrancese

Usage notes

Francese is spelled with a lower-case initial, as are the other Italian nouns and adjectives of nationality.[1][6] Mal francese for syphilis is now dated.[14][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  5. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 461
  6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1705
  11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli