fusta

Forms

fusta f (plural fuste)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fūstis (“stick, club”), through its accusative, and the noun passed from the masculine to the feminine.^[2][3][4][5] GRADIT, Sabatini–Coletti, Treccani and DEI call it a word of the Venetian area, and Wiktionary allows that it came through Venetian.^{[6][7][8][9][1]} DEI and Tommaseo explain the sense of a ship from “wood”, as legno is used for any vessel.^[9][10] Devoto–Oli instead refers to the slender shape of the boat.^[9][10][11] It is a doublet of fusto.^[1]

The ship's name is Spanish fusta and French fuste, and it passed into Modern Greek and Turkish.^[9][1] REW notes that the word is found all over the Mediterranean and that its starting point was still unknown.^[12] The Latin noun is of disputed origin: de Vaan links it with -fūtō (“to strike”).^[13][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Italian translation of Plutarch, before 1304: a small, fast and narrow galley with oars and a single mast.^[2] Its sentence speaks of nailing together “another, foreign fusta” in place of an old ship.^[10] The TLIO's first record is a Florentine document of about 1308, and it also has the word for “wood” by metonymy.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The fusta was in use in the Mediterranean from the 14th to the 17th century, with eighteen or twenty oarsmen on each side and one mast with a lateen sail.^[6][11] Zingarelli adds two or three guns, and it was smaller than a galley but larger than a brigantine.^[4][10] It was low-built and suited for raiding.^[10] Ariosto has ships con fuste e grippie, and Wiktionary describes it as used mainly by pirates.^[10][1] DEI notes that it was still used at Pisa for a corsair ship.^[9]

French has fuste from 1392 and German Fuste from 1444, both now historical.^[14] English foist came from the Old French word.^[14]

Timeline

• Before 1304 – The Italian Plutarch uses fusta for a small galley.^[2]
• About 1308 – A Florentine document has the word.^[5]
• 1392 – French fuste is recorded.^[14]
• 1444 – German Fuste is recorded.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical, nautical) A small, fast galley with oars and a single mast with a lateen sail, used in the Mediterranean from the 14th to the 17th century.^{[6][11][7][8]}

Related words

• fusto
• fuscello
• Latin fūstis
• Spanish fusta

Usage notes

A separate, archaic fusta meant a torch and a strong rope of rushes, a learned word from Latin fūstis that DEI dates to the 17th century: Buonarroti the Younger has sotto la luce di gran fuste e torce and Galileo calls ropes of rushes fuste.^{[15][9][10][6]} The GDLI also records fusta “attractive woman”, the feminine of fusto, in Buzzati.^[15]

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. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1740
10. ^ a b c d e f g Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 508