furgone

Forms

furgone m (plural furgoni)^[1] A rarer form is forgone, used in the 19th century;^[2][3][4] Ugolini also records frugone.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French fourgon, recorded in French from the early 17th century (1640 in GRADIT); DELI thinks the word came into Italian first as a military term, in the Napoleonic period, and Panzini already counted it among the French army words of that time.^[5][6][2]

The origin of the French word is uncertain.^[5][6][7] Nocentini and the GDLI explain it from Old French fourgon (“poker, fire rake”) (12th century): poles of this kind used in the frame of a cart's sides would have given their name to the sides, then to a “charrette à fourgon”, and by ellipsis to the vehicle.^[8][2] Nocentini traces the poker to Vulgar Latin *furicōnem (“poker”), from the verb behind frugare (“to rummage”).^[8] Devoto–Oli speaks of a metonymy from an iron rod with which the vehicle was fitted.^[9]

Milanese took the same French word as Lombard forgon (1840), a military term.^[3] DEI thinks Italian passed the word on to Turkish furgon.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the Notizie del mondo of 1799, for a covered vehicle carrying goods.^[5] The early furgone was a long covered wagon on four wheels, drawn by horses;^[2] Colletta boasts that it lost “né un cassone di munizioni, né un furgone” (“neither an ammunition wagon nor a furgone”).^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the word was also used for the tender of a locomotive, and Sabatini–Coletti date forgone “big cart” to 1812.^[9][3][10] The GDLI lists loads of luggage, foodstuffs and coffins.^[2] Panzini in 1905 has it for a closed wagon for goods, together with the diminutive furgoncino.^[5][3]

With motor transport the word passed to the closed motor van, the main sense today; a furgone cellulare is a prison van.^[6][7] furgonista, the driver of a van, is recorded in 1965.^[5]

Timeline

• 1640 – French fourgon is recorded for a kind of vehicle.^[6]
• 1799 – First Italian record, in the Notizie del mondo.^[5]
• 1812 – Forgone is used for a big cart.^[10]
• 1840 – Milanese forgon is recorded as a military word.^[3]
• 1905 – Panzini records the sense “closed goods wagon” and furgoncino.^[5][3]
• 1965 – Furgonista is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. van: a closed motor vehicle for carrying goods: Il fornaio consegna il pane con un furgone bianco.^{[6][7][11][10]}
2. (historical) A long covered wagon on four wheels, drawn by horses, for luggage, supplies or army baggage; also the tender of a locomotive.^[6][9][2]
3. A closed vehicle for carrying coffins, a hearse.^[2][1]

Word family

• furgoncino
• furgonista
• autofurgone
• motofurgone
• furgonato

Related words

• frugare
• French fourgon

Usage notes

Furgone cellulare is the van in which prisoners are taken to prison or to court.^[6][7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d e f g Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 472
4. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1737
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana