moda

Forms

moda f (plural mode)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French mode, which has meant the current fashion in dress since 1549; the phrase à la mode (“in the manner (of)”) goes back to about 1393.^[2][3][4] The French word continues Latin modus (“measure; manner, way”), which became feminine in French.^[2][5][6] Nocentini and GRADIT trace the sense to that phrase.^[3][4] From French the word also passed into Spanish moda and Portuguese moda.^[6]

The Latin noun first meant “measure”;^[1][7][8] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”), the root of meditor and moderor.^[1][7][8] In the 19th century the Tommaseo–Bellini dictionary still weighed other origins, from mōs (“custom”), from Spanish, or from Celtic or Hebrew words; the modern dictionaries all give French.^[9][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from 1648, in Lampugnani, in the sense of the current style of dress and grooming.^[2] DEI dates the word to 1676, in Lippi.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The sense widened at once: by 1666 Magalotti uses it for a custom in vogue in general.^[2] The word came with the spread of French fashion, which also brought it into English and German in the 17th century.^[10] Before 1745 Crudeli uses it for women's clothing, and the plural mode still names articles of women's dress and the shops that sell them.^[2][4][11] In the 18th century it could still mean simply “manner”: Salvini writes that the Spartans had a law against altering the old moda of their singing.^[9][12]

Derivatives also followed French. modista first meant a follower of fashion (French modiste, 1661) and, from 1825, a milliner.^[2][3] In the 20th century the word came to name the clothing industry itself, with alta moda, haute couture, and moda pronta, ready-to-wear (1973).^[2][13][4] The Italian word was borrowed into Ottoman Turkish.^[1]

Timeline

• About 1393 – French à la mode de “in the manner of” is recorded.^[2]
• 1549 – French mode “fashion” is recorded.^[2][4]
• 1648 – First Italian record, in Lampugnani.^[2]
• 1666 – Magalotti uses it for a custom in vogue.^[2]
• Before 1745 – Crudeli uses it for women's clothing.^[2]
• 1825 – Modista “milliner” is recorded.^[3]
• 1973 – Moda pronta “ready-to-wear” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. fashion, vogue: the general taste or way of behaving that prevails at a given time: la moda dei viaggi in bicicletta.^[4][13][14]
2. The prevailing style of dress and grooming: Lei segue sempre la moda di Parigi..^[4][11][15]
3. The fashion industry and its products: Mia sorella lavora nella moda..^[4][13][11]
4. (in the plural) Articles of women's clothing and accessories.^[4][11]
5. (obsolete) Manner, way.^[4][15]

Word family

• modista
• modisteria
• modaiolo

Related words

• modo
• French mode
• Latin modus

Usage notes

Di moda and alla moda mean fashionable;^[4][13][16] fuori moda means out of fashion, and passare di moda to go out of fashion.^[4][13][16]

A second moda, a term of statistics (the mode, the value that occurs most often in a distribution), is a separate borrowing from English mode, introduced by Pearson in 1895; it is recorded in Italian from 1957.^[2][3][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
11. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 670
13. ^ 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
14. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli