fronza

Forms

fronza f (plural fronze)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin frondia (“foliage”), a collective noun.^[2][1][3] DELI and the GDLI give it as Vulgar Latin *frŏndia;^[4][5][1] Wiktionary notes that the Late Latin word is attested in the Vetus Latina and in a late gloss.^[4][5][1] It is the neuter plural of Latin frondeus (“leafy”), reinterpreted as a feminine singular, from frons (“foliage, leafy branch”).^[6][1][2] Wiktionary suggests the model of folium, whose plural was often a collective “foliage” in Late Latin.^[1]

The same word is Romanian frunză (“leaf”) and Sardinian frundza.^[6][3] The Italian word for “frond” is otherwise fronda, from the same Latin noun.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates fronza “frond” to the 15th century, in Giovanni Cavalcanti.^[4] The GDLI quotes him: one deserves to come home on a golden chariot incoronato di fronze di lauro, “crowned with laurel fronds”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed archaic and literary in the sense “frond”;^[5] Pascoli still used it.^[5] In 19th-century Tuscany Tommaseo recorded a farming sense, the first green leaves of the wheat, in sayings about crops that run to leaf.^[7] Oudin's 17th-century dictionary also gives “twisted cord” and “wrinkle”, and fronze for cabbage stalks.^[8]

The derivatives outlived it: fronzuto “leafy” appears at the end of the 13th century in Dante da Maiano, and the diminutive fronzolo, a useless showy ornament, in 1625.^[4][6]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Dante da Maiano uses the derivative fronzuto.^[4]
• 15th century – Giovanni Cavalcanti uses fronza “frond”.^[4]
• 1625 – Fronzolo is recorded, in V. Magazzini.^[4]
• 19th century – Tommaseo records the sense “first leaves of the wheat”.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Tuscan, agriculture) The first green leaves of wheat.^[2][7][1]
2. (archaic, literary) A frond, leafy branch; usually in the plural.^[2][5][1]

Word family

• fronzolo
• fronzuto
• fronzire
• rifronzire
• sfronzare

Related words

• fronda
• Latin frons
• Romanian frunză

Usage notes

GRADIT marks the word as obsolete.^[2] The ⟨z⟩ is voiced: /ˈfron.d͡za/.^[8][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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 c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 468