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farina

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word farina

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Italic *fars
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin far
Latin farina
From the same root
Latin farrago ← far

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [faˈriː.na][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [faˈriː.na][1]

Forms

farīna f (genitive farīnae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin far (“emmer, grain”) + -īna, from ⟨*farrīna⟩.[2][3][1] De Vaan traces far to Proto-Italic *fars (“flour”), with Oscan far (“flour”) and Umbrian far (“flour”) in the other Italic languages.[3] Celtic words for bread such as Old Irish bairgen (“bread, loaf”) may share the root; given its vowel and its meaning, de Vaan thinks ⟨*bʰars-⟩ may itself be a loanword for a primitive kind of wheat.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.[3][4] In the OLD's earliest quotation, from Plautus, someone says that flour is needed.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is meal or flour, probably first of emmer but then of any grain: Celsus speaks of meal of wheat, emmer or barley.[2] Mela writes that the Egyptians knead dough with their feet.[2] Persius uses it figuratively of the stuff people are made of: one who was lately of our flour, one of our sort.[2] Pliny the Elder applies it to the powder of ground stone.[2] Martial's ⟨farīnam facere⟩ is to scatter or waste.[5] English farina comes from it, from 1707.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of flour.[2][3][4]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus of meal of different grains.[2][4]
  • 34–62 AD – Persius of the stuff people are made of.[2][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of powdered stone.[2][4]
  • 1707 – English farina.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Meal, flour of any grain.[2][5][1][7]
  2. Figuratively, the stuff a person is made of, sort, kind.[2][1]
  3. Powder, dust of any ground substance.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • farīnāceus
  • farīnārius
  • farīnōsus
  • farīnula
  • farīnulentus
  • far
  • farrāceus
  • farrāgō
  • farrārius
  • farrātus
  • farreārius
  • farreātus
  • farreus
  • farriculum
  • English farina

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Farina.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/farina. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·