Etymologically
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funzionare

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Pronunciation

  • /fun.t͡sjoˈna.re/[1]

Forms

funzionare (first-person singular present funzióno, first-person singular past historic funzionài, past participle funzionàto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French fonctionner, a verb formed in French from fonction (“function”).[2][3][4][5][1] The French verb is recorded from 1637.[6][7] In Italian the borrowing was matched to the native noun funzione, which goes back to Latin functiō (“performance”), from fungor (“to perform”).[8][9] GRADIT describes the verb instead as a derivative of that noun with the verb ending -are, and compares the French word.[7] The Piedmontese form is funsioné.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is from 1796, in the proceedings of the Cispadane Congress at Reggio, with the sense “to carry out the functions that belong to one's nature or structure”.[2] Nocentini and GRADIT date the word from 1848.[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The verb was long felt to be a Gallicism: the GDLI calls it a calque of French and quotes the purist Arlía, who mocked how funzionare saved speakers the trouble of finding a different verb for each idea.[10] Tommaseo noted that people said funziona not only of a priest in his cope or a magistrate in his robe, but of a bodily organ and of a machine, and he marked the word as one to avoid.[10][11]

The religious sense, of a priest celebrating a service, and the sense “to act as”, now replaced by fungere, have become rare.[7][5][1] The usual modern senses are those of a machine or organ doing its work and, figuratively, of an idea or a method that gives results.[12][13]

Timeline

  • 1637 – French fonctionner is recorded.[6][7]
  • 1796 – Funzionare appears in the proceedings of the Cispadane Congress at Reggio.[2]
  • 1848 – Date of first record given by Nocentini and GRADIT.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive) Of a machine or device, to work, to do its job: La lavatrice non funziona da ieri.[7][5][12]
  2. Of an organ of the body, to work properly.[7][5]
  3. Of an office, firm or institution, to run efficiently.[7][5][13]
  4. (figurative) To be effective, to give good results: Il nuovo metodo funziona.[7][5][14]
  5. (uncommon) To act as, to serve as (with da), the same as fungere.[7][5][14][1]
  6. (uncommon, religion) To celebrate a religious service.[7][5][1]

Word family

  • funzionamento
  • funzionante
  • funzione
  • fungere
  • French fonctionner

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1736
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
  10. ^ a b 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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana