frodare

Forms

frodare (first-person singular present fròdo, first-person singular past historic frodài, past participle frodàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The older and literary form is fraudare.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fraudāre (“to cheat, defraud”), a verb formed from fraus (“deceit”), genitive fraudis.^[5][6][1][7] It belongs with frode.^[6][5] The same Latin verb gave Old French froer (“to break, prove useless”).^[8]

The origin of fraus is uncertain.^[6][5] The ancients connected it with frūstrā (“in vain”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Andrea da Grosseto, a Tuscan text of 1268, with the sense “to take away by deceit what belongs to others”.^[9][4] DELI dates it to Giamboni, before 1292.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used it for cheating someone, falsifying something, breaking a vow or precept, and dodging a tax.^[9] Villani wrote of officials who had frodato il comune falsando la misura e 'l peso del pane (“defrauded the commune by falsifying the measure and weight of bread”).^[10][11] The customs sense, “to smuggle goods past the toll”, is in Sacchetti, before 1400.^[6]

Dante has La verità nulla menzogna frodi (“let no lie hide the truth”), and “to hide, conceal” is now obsolete.^[12][13][4] Today it means to defraud a person or the state, or to evade a law.^[12][14]

Timeline

• 1268 – Andrea da Grosseto uses frodare.^[9][4]
• Before 1292 – Giamboni has it.^[6]
• Before 1400 – Sacchetti uses it for evading customs duties.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To defraud, deprive someone of what is due by deceit: frodare lo Stato di una forte somma.^[12][14][2]
2. To take something away by fraud: frodare una forte somma allo Stato.^[12][14][2]
3. To evade or break by fraud: frodare le norme sulle importazioni.^[12][14][13]
4. To cheat, swindle.^[12][14][1]
5. (obsolete) To hide, falsify.^[12][4][3]

Word family

• frodatore
• frodo
• frodabile
• frodamento

Related words

• frode
• defraudare
• Latin fraus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
3. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
4. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ 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