sfregare

Forms

sfregare (first-person singular present sfrégo, first-person singular past historic sfregài, past participle sfregàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian s- + fregare, with the intensive prefix.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} fregare is from Latin fricō (“to rub”), a word of uncertain origin.^[2][3]

Others start from Latin: Wiktionary and Körting from Latin exfricō, a variant of effricō (“to rub off”).^[1][8] Meyer-Lübke lists the word under effricō with Portuguese esfregar, but allows that it may be a new formation.^[9] GDLI explains it as Latin ex- with intensive force added to the Italian verb.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the vernacular Palladius of about 1340, with the sense “to rub hard with the hand or with something held in it”.^[2][11] GRADIT dates the verb to the first half of the 13th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Early medical texts prescribe rubbing: the vernacular Pietro Ispano advises rubbing a sore tooth with parsnip juice.^[11][12] Francesco Redi had a clay pot rubbed inside with garlic, and Francesco Algarotti noted that a glass tube rubbed until warm attracts light bodies.^[10] The noun sfregamento dates from the 14th century, and medicine uses it from 1935 for the sound of two serous membranes rubbing together.^[2]

The sense “to make one or more scratches or marks” is recorded from 1922.^[2] In modern use the verb also means to strike a match and to graze a car or wall in passing.^[4][13][6]

Timeline

• About 1340 – The vernacular Palladius has sfregare “to rub”.^[2]
• 14th century – Sfregamento appears in the Ottimo commentary on Dante.^[2][14]
• 1838 – Tramater records sfregolare.^[14]
• 1922 – Zingarelli records the sense “to make scratches”.^[2]
• 1935 – Sfregamento becomes a medical term.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To rub, scrub: to pass the hand or an object hard and repeatedly over a surface: sfregò la padella con la paglietta.^[4][5][15]
2. (transitive) To rub or massage a part of the body: si sfregava le mani per scaldarle.^[4][5][16]
3. (transitive) To strike, draw something along a surface with pressure: sfregare un fiammifero.^[4][5][1]
4. (transitive) To scratch or graze by scraping against something.^[4][6][13]
5. (transitive) To mark with scratches or strokes.^[4][2]
6. (intransitive) To rub against something: il cassetto sfrega contro il fianco del mobile.^[4][13][16]
7. (pronominal) sfregarsi: to rub oneself against something, as a cat does.^[15][6][16]

Word family

• sfregamento
• sfregacciare
• sfregacciolo
• sfregagione
• sfregata
• sfregatura
• sfregolare
• sfregucciare

Related words

• fregare
• sfregio
• Latin fricō

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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18
13. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3479
15. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli