furbo

Forms

furbo (feminine furba, masculine plural furbi, feminine plural furbe, superlative furbissimo, adverb furbamente)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French fourbe (“thief; cheat”), a word of the French underworld recorded from 1455.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The French word is probably formed from fourbir (“to polish, to furbish”), a thief being one who “cleans out” other people's pockets; the Italian verb from the same source is forbire.^[2][3][6][5] The verb is from Frankish *furbjan (“to polish”).^[7][8][9]

Meyer-Lübke derived the French word from the Italian one,^[8] but DELI points out that the dates rule this out.^[2] DEI calls the French word a slang term of unknown origin,^[10] and Treccani and Wikizionario leave the origin open.^[11][12] Zaccaria and Tommaseo rejected older derivations from Latin furvus (“dark”) and fūr (“thief”).^[9][13] DEI adds that the word passed into the dialects of the south,^[10] and Wiktionary compares Piedmontese furb.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Luigi Pulci, before 1484, where furbo means a member of the underworld, a rogue or vagabond; this sense was in use until the end of the 18th century.^[2][5] Pulci also calls a gang of rogues la Furba.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century lingua furba or furbesca was the jargon of the underworld: Berni uses per dirlo in lingua furba “to say it in thieves' cant”.^[5][2] From the same milieu the word passed, before 1552 in Anton Francesco Doni, to the modern sense “shrewd, knowing how to get an advantage by clever tricks”.^[2][3] Nocentini sees the shift as one from “member of the underworld” to “a person who knows all the tricks for getting by”.^[3]

The proverbs Tommaseo collects reflect the old, harsher sense: tra furbo e furbo non si camuffa “one rogue cannot fool another”.^[13][5] A large family of derivatives followed: furberia (1572), furbacchione (1857–1858, Ippolito Nievo), furbizia (1853) and furbastro (1949, Pavese).^[2]

Timeline

• 1455 – French fourbe “thief” is recorded.^[2][4]
• Before 1484 – Luigi Pulci uses furbo for a member of the underworld.^[2]
• Before 1552 – Anton Francesco Doni uses it in the sense “shrewd”.^[2]
• 1560 – Furbesco “fraudulent, sly” is recorded.^[2]
• 1572 – Furberia is recorded.^[2]
• 1853 – Furbizia is recorded.^[2]
• 1949 – Pavese uses furbastro.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. cunning, sly, shrewd: quick to look after one's own interest and to get out of difficulties: È stato furbo a non firmare subito.^[4][14][15]
2. Showing cunning: un sorriso furbo.^[4][14][16]

Noun

1. A cunning person, a sly one: Smettila di fare il furbo.^[4][14][16]
2. (archaic) A rogue, swindler, member of the underworld.^[4][11]

Word family

• furbacchione
• furbastro
• furberia
• furbesco
• furbizia
• furbetto
• furbone
• infurbire
• furbamente
• furbata

Related words

• forbire
• French fourbe

Usage notes

Farsi furbo is to wise up, learn to look after oneself;^[16][14] furbo matricolato or di tre cotte is an arrant rogue.^[16][14] Zingarelli distinguishes furbo, practical and instinctive cleverness, from astuto, more calculated.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 472
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1737
11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
13. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli