Etymologically
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far

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈfar], [ˈfar.r][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfar][1]

Forms

far n (genitive farris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *fars (“flour”).[2][1][3] Italic and Slavic point to a stem *bʰars-, which Germanic remade as an s-stem, and de Vaan thinks it may be a loanword from a non-Indo-European language for a primitive cultivated wheat, given the vowel /a/ and the field of grains.[2] Cognate with Oscan far (“flour”), Umbrian farer (“of flour”), Old Irish bairgen (“bread, loaf”), Welsh bara (“bread”) and Old English bere (“barley”).[2][4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in the Twelve Tables.[2] Cato uses it of grain that must not be lent to anyone.[4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was emmer, a husked wheat, as Varro's comparison of Campanian emmer, and its grain, and ground grain or groats, as in Cato and Columella.[4] Lewis and Short call it the earliest food of the Romans, roasted or ground into meal.[5] In poetry far pium was the sacred meal offered in sacrifice.[6]

From it came farīna “flour” and farrāgō “mixed fodder”, which gave English farina and farrago “hodgepodge”.[2][3] It survives as Italian farro, and English farro is borrowed from Italian.[1]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of grain and groats.[4][7]
  • 1630s – English farrago is recorded.[3]
  • 1707 – English farina is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Emmer, a husked wheat.[4][1]
  2. The grain of this plant.[4][5]
  3. Ground grain, groats, coarse meal.[4][1]
  4. (poetic) Sacrificial meal.[6]

Word family

  • farīna
  • farrāceus
  • farrāgō
  • farrārius
  • farrātus
  • farreātus
  • farreus
  • confarreō
  • diffarreātiō
  • farreārius
  • farreātiō
  • farriculum
  • confarreātiō
  • farīnāceus
  • farīnārium
  • farīnārius
  • farīnōsus
  • farīnula
  • farīnulentus
  • English farina
  • English farrago
  • English farro

Usage notes

Isidore says it was named because at first it was broken, before the Romans had mills.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).