frugare

Forms

frugare (first-person singular present frùgo, first-person singular past historic frugài, past participle frugàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The old and Tuscan form is Old Italian frucare.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *fūricāre (“to rummage”), from Latin fūror (“to steal”), itself from fūr (“thief”).^[5][6][7][1] The rummaging of a thief is the link in meaning.^[8] The form goes through a metathesis *frucare, still Tuscan frucare, and ⟨-c-⟩ became ⟨-g-⟩ as in northern Italian;^{[2][9][10][3]} DEI calls it a northern word and GDLI a semi-learned one, with the two forms alternating like loco and luogo.^{[2][9][10][3]} Prati thought this origin probable and an imitative origin unlikely.^[4]

The same Vulgar Latin verb gave Old French furgier, Occitan furgar, Catalan furgar and Spanish hurgar, a Lucchese ⟨furicare⟩ and Venetian furegar;^[6][11] French fourgonner “to poke the fire” and fourgon “poker” belong to the same family.^[6][11]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *fōr-, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰṓr (“thief”), and matches Ancient Greek φώρ (phṓr, “thief”); de Vaan rejects the idea that Latin borrowed it from Greek.^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Anonimo Genovese, before 1311, used figuratively of an animal searching with its snout or paws.^[13] Dante uses it soon after for “to goad, torment”: la rigida giustizia che mi fruga (“the stern justice that goads me”).^[5][7][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb meant “to goad, urge someone on”, “to inflict torment” and “to stir up the water with a stick to drive out prey”, as well as “to search”.^[13] Boccaccio describes hunters going round “poking with sticks” in dark caves (frugando con baston le grotte oscure).^[3]

The modern sense “to search carefully, rummage” prevailed, with the derived frugata and frugatoio;^[4][6] frugone meant a thrust or a poking stick, and frugolo and frugolino a restless child who pokes into everything.^[4][6] The sense “to goad, torment” is now archaic, and modern Italian adds “to search a person” and “to scrutinise someone with one's eyes”.^[7][2]

Timeline

• Before 1311 – The Anonimo Genovese uses frugare.^[13]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “to goad, torment”.^[5][7]
• Second half of the 14th century – Frugacchiare is recorded.^[6]
• Second half of the 15th century – Frugolo is recorded.^[6]
• c. 1525 – Frugolare is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To rummage, search insistently among things, moving them about: frugava tra le carte sul tavolo.^[7][2][1]
2. (transitive) To search a place or object carefully: frugò tutti i cassetti.^[7][2]
3. (transitive) To frisk, search a person.^[7][2]
4. (figurative) To scrutinise someone, look searchingly at: lo frugava con lo sguardo.^[7][2]
5. (archaic) To goad, spur on; to torment.^[7][2][13]

Word family

• frugacchiare
• frugolare
• frugolo
• fruciandolo
• frugamento
• frugata
• frugatoio
• frugatore
• frugone
• rifrugare

Related words

• furto
• furetto
• Latin fūr
• Spanish hurgar

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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 392
4. ^ a b c d Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 468
5. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1724
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ 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 c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it