fuga

Forms

fuga f (plural fughe, diminutive fughetta, augmentative fugona or fugone)^[1] Old Italian also wrote fugga and fugha.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin fuga (“flight, escape”), a learned word,^[3][4][1] from fugiō (“to flee”).^[3][5][6] The same Latin noun came down by the popular route as foga (“impetus, ardour”).^[5][7][1][8] Elsewhere the inherited noun survives in Sardinian fua (“speed”), in Logudorese, and the learned word is Spanish fuga.^[8][3]

The Latin verb continues Proto-Indo-European *bʰug- (“to flee”), and its relatives are Ancient Greek φεύγω (pheúgō, “to flee”) and φυγή (phugḗ, “flight”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Roman Miracole de Roma of the mid-13th century, for a quick departure to escape a danger.^[2][3] DELI's first date is Bono Giamboni, before 1292.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used fuga also for a headlong rush and for the act of avoiding something bad, and in the sense of foga, ardour.^[2] Dante writes in the Purgatorio of the subitanea fuga that scattered the souls over the plain.^[11]

From the 16th century music used the word for a composition in which one voice takes up the theme of another: DIFIT dates it to 1508, DELI to Vincenzo Galilei in 1581.^[12][10] The musical term passed to French fugue (1598), and through French to English fugue;^[12][4] German Fuge is earlier, from the end of the 15th century.^[12][4] Architecture adopted it before 1617, in Bernardino Baldi, for a row of rooms or columns seen in perspective, and cycling in 1954 for a breakaway from the bunch.^[10] Modern Italian also has the leak of a gas or liquid and phrases such as fuga di capitali, fuga dei cervelli (the brain drain) and fuga di notizie.^[5][6][13]

Timeline

• Mid-13th century – The Miracole de Roma use fuga.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it.^[10]
• 1508 – The musical sense is first recorded.^[12]
• 1581 – Vincenzo Galilei uses fuga in music.^[10]
• 1598 – French fugue appears as a musical term.^[12][4]
• Before 1617 – Bernardino Baldi uses it for a series of architectural elements.^[10]
• 1622 – Fuga names the theme of a canon.^[12]
• 1954 – The cycling sense is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. flight, escape, a sudden departure to escape a danger: I ladri si sono dati alla fuga.^[5][6][7]
2. An escape from prison: la fuga di tre detenuti.^[5][6]
3. (figurative) A flight from an oppressive situation, or from one's duties: fuga dalla realtà.^[5][6][14]
4. (figurative) A sudden loss: una fuga di voti.^[5][7]
5. (cycling) A breakaway: essere in fuga.^[5][7][14]
6. (military slang) Unauthorised absence, especially at night.^[5]
7. A leak of a gas or a liquid: una fuga di gas in cantina.^[5][6][7]
8. A series of rooms, arches or columns seen in perspective.^[5][7][14]
9. The joint between two tiles of a floor.^[5]
10. (music) A fugue.^[5][7][1]

Word family

• fugace
• fugacità
• fugare
• trafugare
• fugato
• fughetta
• fugatore

Related words

• fuggire
• fuggitivo
• foga
• Latin fuga

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include darsi alla fuga and mettere in fuga (to put to flight), la fuga in Egitto (the Flight into Egypt), punto di fuga (vanishing point), velocità di fuga (escape velocity) and fuga in avanti, the pursuit of distant, unrealistic goals in place of present problems.^{[5][7][13][14]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1729
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c d e f Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana