frosone

Forms

frosone m (plural frosoni)^[1] The older form is frusone, and an old variant is Old Italian frisone.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin frisiō, accusative frisiōnem, the name of a bird.^[2][6][7][1] Prati and Meyer-Lübke take the Italian word from the northern dialects, Lombard frison and Ligurian frizun.^[5][8] The same Latin word gave fregione at Lucca and frocione at Rome.^[5]

The origin of frisiō is disputed.^[2][6] DELI, Zingarelli, Treccani and Devoto–Oli explain it as “of Frisia”, perhaps for the bird's provenance, though DELI also asks whether it is imitative.^{[2][4][9][10]} Nocentini, the GDLI and Wiktionary see an imitative word, from the same base as fringuello and frinire.^[6][11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is frusone in Boccaccio's Filocolo, 1336–1338, for a small, stocky songbird like a large finch.^[3][2][7] The form frosone appears in Olina in 1622.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Boccaccio a frusone flies behind an Indian parrot, and Pucci and Pulci list frusoni among the small birds caught and kept.^[11] Frusone and frosone have stayed side by side, and the compound beccofrusone names another bird, Ampelis garrula.^[10][12][5]

Gabrielli records a rare figurative sense: a man who is always hanging around women.^[13]

Timeline

• 1336–1338 – Boccaccio uses frusone in the Filocolo.^[3][2]
• 1622 – Olina uses frosone.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) The hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes), a stocky finch with a short tail and a large conical beak for cracking seeds.^{[7][10][9][1]}
2. (rare, figurative) A man who keeps pestering women.^[13]

Related words

• frusone
• fringuello
• Latin frisio

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 469
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli