formaggio Italian · revision 37435

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1315, Bonvesin de la Riva|origins=la forma}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /forˈmad.d͡ʒo/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''formaggio''' ''m'' (plural formaggi)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old and dialect forms include [[roa-oit|formaio]], [[roa-oit|formajo]], [[roa-oit|formagio]] and [[roa-oit|formazo]], mostly from northern Italy.^(TLIO) The word is [[vec|formajo]], and in the dialects of Lombardy and Emilia it is [[lmo|formai]].^(Prati 1951|457)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fro|formage]], the Old French form of modern [[fr|fromage]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The French word comes from [[la-med|formaticum]], short for a phrase meaning “cheese put in a mould”, from [[la|forma|t=form; mould]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary) The Medieval Latin word is recorded in France from the 8th century, in the Reichenau Glossary and in a capitulary of Charlemagne of 802, and in Italy at Bobbio from 862.^(DEI|1689)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Meyer-Lübke saw the formation as Gallo-Romance only: it replaced [[la|caseus|t=cheese]] there, and the early loan [[br|fourondec]] shows that it is older than the change of “-aticu” to French “-age”.^(REW 1935)^(Wiktionary) The loan into Italian brought the word into the old territory of “caseus”, which survives in [[cacio]].^(DEI|1689)^(DELI 1999) The same French word gave [[pro|formatge]] and was borrowed as [[es|formaje]].^(REW 1935)^(Körting 1907)

+

+ The origin of Latin “forma” is unknown.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) One proposal derives it from an Etruscan “*morma”, taken from [[grc|μορφή|tr=morphḗ|t=shape]], with the first *m* changed to *f* as in [[la|formica]] and [[la|formido]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Medieval Latin documents from Verona (''formaius'', 1189) and Fabriano (''formagium'', 1190) show the word in Italy before any Italian text.^(DELI 1999) The first Italian record is in the Milanese poems of Bonvesin de la Riva, who died before 1315, with the sense “cheese”, the food made by curdling milk with rennet.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old Italian the word already named kinds of cheese by origin or animal: ''formaggio parmigiano'', ''formaggio di pecora'' and ''formaggio vaccino'', and ''formaggio cavallo'', the same as ''caciocavallo''.^(TLIO) Boccaccio's ''Decameron'' imagines “a mountain all of grated Parmesan cheese” (''una montagna tutta di formaggio parmigiano grattugiato'').^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ Northern forms such as Vicentine ''formaio'' (1433) and Venetian ''formazo'' (1503) kept the ending the Lombard and Venetian dialects still have.^(Prati 1951|457) Derivatives followed: ''formaggiaio'', a maker or seller of cheese, goes back to Medieval Latin ''formaglarius'' (Bologna, 1288), and ''formaggino'', processed cheese in small portions, and ''formaggiera'', the dish for grated cheese, entered the dictionaries in 1925.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ In film-making ''formaggio'' is also a device between the tripod head and the camera that allows steep vertical angles.^(Devoto–Oli 2026) German borrowed the word as ''Formaggio'' (1876),^(DIFIT) and Italian passed it on to Amharic and Somali.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1189 – Medieval Latin ''formaius'' is recorded at Verona.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1190 – ''Formagium'' appears in a Medieval Latin document from Fabriano.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1288 – ''Formaglarius'' “cheesemonger” is recorded at Bologna.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1315 – Bonvesin de la Riva uses Italian ''formaggio''.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)

+ * 1433 – Vicentine ''formaio'' is recorded.^(Prati 1951|457)

+ * 1503 – Venetian ''formazo'' is recorded.^(Prati 1951|457)

+ * 1876 – German ''Formaggio'' is first recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1925 – ''Formaggino'' and ''formaggiera'' appear in the Zingarelli dictionary.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|cheese]]: the food made by curdling cow's, sheep's, goat's or buffalo's [[m|en|milk]] with rennet, usually salted and often aged.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(cinema)'' A mount between the tripod head and the camera that allows steep vertical camera angles.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[formaggino]]

+ * [[formaggiera]]

+ * [[formaggiaio]]

+ * [[formaggella]]

+ * [[formaggetta]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[forma]]

+ * [[cacio]]

+ * [[fr|fromage]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Formaggio'' and ''cacio'' are synonyms.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) Common combinations name the kind of cheese: ''formaggio fresco'', ''stagionato'', ''grattugiato'' (fresh, aged, grated), and ''formaggio fuso'' (processed cheese).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}