facienda

Forms

facienda f (genitive faciendae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin faciō (“to do, make”),^[1][2][3] the neuter plural of its gerundive, ⟨facienda⟩ “things to be done”, taken as a feminine singular.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Classical Latin the neuter plural of the gerundive meant “things to be done”, as in Quintilian's “consistency in what is to be done and not done”.^[4] As a feminine noun it is first found in a charter of Conques of 1076, for the work or holding of a piece of land.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

In Medieval Latin it meant the farming of land, anything forming part of an estate, and then the estate or farm itself.^[1] In Catalonia it meant what one has to do, an obligation.^[3]

From it come Italian faccenda “business, affair”^[5] and Spanish hacienda, from which Italian took azienda.^[5] Catalan faena is compared with it.^[3]

Timeline

• 1076 – A charter of Conques uses it of a piece of land.^[6][2]
• 1095 – A Catalan agreement uses it for an obligation.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) The cultivation of land.^[1]
2. (Medieval Latin) Anything forming part of an estate (a field, a building).^[1]
3. (Medieval Latin) An estate, a farm.^[1][2]
4. (Medieval Latin) What one has to do, an obligation.^[3]

Related words

• faciō
• Spanish hacienda

Usage notes

Niermeyer records the spellings fazienda and fazenda.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis Cataloniae (1960–; online ed. 2025), Barcelona: CSIC / Institució Milà i Fontanals, gmlc.imf.csic.es
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre