Etymologically
Log in

fuoco

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 19:41. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Forms

fuoco m (plural fuochi or (Old Italian) fòcora or fuòcora, diminutive fochétto/fuochétto or fochettìno or focherèllo/fuocherèllo or focherellìno or (uncommon) focolìno, augmentative focóne/fuocóne or focaróne)[1] The older and poetic form is Old Italian foco, and the old plural was fuòcora or fòcora.[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin focus (“hearth, fireplace”).[4][5][6][1] For fire itself Latin used the old Indo-European word ignis (“fire”), while the noun meant the domestic hearth, opposed to āra (“altar”), the hearth of the gods.[4][7] In popular Latin it took on the sense “fire”, and, from the 4th century it rendered Ancient Greek πῦρ (pŷr, “fire; hearth”) in translations of the Bible and in medical writers, perhaps as a calque of the Greek word, which had both meanings.[4][8] It replaced the old word entirely: every Romance language continues it, and none keeps a trace of the other.[4][5][9] The same word is Romanian foc, French feu, Occitan fuec, Catalan foc, Spanish fuego, Portuguese fogo and Sardinian fogu.[5][9]

The origin of the Latin noun is unclear.[10][6][11] The obvious link with foveō (“to warm”) meets the difficulty of the short vowel.[5] De Vaan rules out a connection with fax (“torch”), and finds Hamp's derivation from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn”) chronologically difficult.[10][1] DEI even calls the structure of the word non-Indo-European.[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur (late 12th century).[13] DELI starts with focu in Francis of Assisi (about 1224): “Laudato si', mi' Signore, per frate focu, / per lo quale ennallumini la nocte” (Praised be you, my Lord, for Brother Fire, by whom you light up the night).[4][14] The form foco appears before 1250 in Giacomo da Lentini and fuoco before 1292 in Bono Giamboni.[4]

Semantic evolution

Giordano da Pisa uses the word for the fire on the hearth and the hearth itself (1302–1305), and Francesco da Barberino for intense heat or fervour (before 1348).[4] Medieval censuses counted households as fuochi, and the word also named a household tax.[6][15] With firearms came the sense “discharge, shot” in Machiavelli (1513–1521), and Galileo used it for the focus of a lens (before 1642), a term perhaps coined by Kepler in 1604.[4]

Several phrases are calques: fuoco sacro of Latin ignis sacer, essere tra due fuochi of French être entre deux feux, and fuoco amico of English friendly fire (1999).[4][7][2] The musical direction con fuoco was taken into German (1802) and French.[16] From Venetian fogo Turkish took a military word of command.[12]

Timeline

  • Last quarter of the 12th century – The Proverbia que dicuntur use the word.[13]
  • About 1224 – Francis of Assisi writes focu.[4][6]
  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini writes foco.[4]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni writes fuoco.[4]
  • 1513–1521 – Machiavelli uses it for gunfire.[4]
  • 1604 – Kepler perhaps coins the optical sense, which Galileo uses before 1642.[4]
  • 1802 – German takes over con fuoco.[16]

Meanings

Noun

  1. fire, the heat and light of burning: Accendiamo il fuoco nel camino.[6][2][8][1]
  2. The flame used for cooking: Cuoci la salsa a fuoco basso.[6][8]
  3. A burner or ring of a cooker: Il nostro fornello ha tre fuochi.[6][8][1]
  4. (colloquial) A light, a match or lighter.[6]
  5. The hearth; home and family: Passavano le sere d'inverno accanto al fuoco.[6][2]
  6. (historical) A household, as counted in censuses.[6][2][1]
  7. Gunfire, shooting: aprire il fuoco, cessate il fuoco.[6][8][2]
  8. (figurative) Ardour, passion: Recitava con tutto il suo fuoco.[6][8]
  9. A burning feeling, as of fever.[6][2]
  10. (optics, mathematics) A focus: mettere a fuoco.[6][3][1]
  11. (astrology) segni di fuoco: Aries, Leo and Sagittarius.[6][8]

Interjection

  1. (military) Fire!, the order to shoot.[6][8][1]
  2. In children's games, “hot!”, said to someone close to the hidden object.[6][8]

Word family

  • focoso
  • infuocare
  • affocare
  • fuochista
  • focale
  • focalizzare
  • sfocare
  • controfuoco
  • antifuoco

Usage notes

Phrases include fuoco di paglia “a short-lived enthusiasm”, scherzare col fuoco “to play with fire”, mettere la mano sul fuoco “to vouch for something” and fuochi d'artificio “fireworks”.[3][2][17]

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 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
  3. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  12. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1736
  13. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 469
  15. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 471
  16. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli