soffregare

Forms

soffregare (first-person singular present soffrégo, first-person singular past historic soffregài, past participle soffregàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The old form is sofregare.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin suffricāre (“to rub gently”), used by Celsus and Columella.^[4][5][2][1] Nocentini and Gabrielli count the Latin verb as Late Latin.^[4][6] It is formed from Latin sub- (“under”) + fricō (“to rub”).^[4][7][8] Devoto adds that the Italian form was shaped by the Italian prefix so- and the verb fregare, itself from the same Latin verb.^[9][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Zingarelli date the verb before 1537, in the form sofregare.^[2][8] DEI's first record is in Soderini's 16th-century treatise on cultivation, where the reader is told not to rub one eye against the other: non si strofini l'un occhio coll'altro, o si soffreghi.^[5][10] The sense is to rub lightly.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The GDLI's 16th-century examples are technical: moulds rubbed over with clay, a diamond rubbed against another stone, and the rims of wine casks rubbed with pine cones.^[3] From the same period the reflexive verb could mean to rub up against someone, to approach a person with fawning requests, and the transitive verb to offer something with repeated servility; both senses are obsolete.^[5][10] The noun soffregamento is recorded from the 14th century.^[5]

In modern Italian the verb is uncommon and means to rub something gently, and also to massage a part of the body.^[2][11][3]

Timeline

• Before 1537 – Sofregare is first recorded.^[2][8]
• 16th century – Soderini uses soffregare for rubbing the eyes.^[5][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (uncommon) To rub something lightly: soffregò la lama con un panno.^{[2][11][8][12][1]}
2. (pronominal) To rub a part of one's own body: si soffregava la fronte.^[7][8][11]

Word family

• soffregamento

Related words

• fregare
• sfregare
• Latin frico

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 265
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3527
6. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 412
10. ^ a b c 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. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana