fratello Italian · revision 37667

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1190, Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, Genoese|origins=ine-pro *bʰréh₂tēr}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /fraˈtɛl.lo/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fratello''' ''m'' (plural fratelli or (obsolete) frategli, diminutive fratellìno, augmentative fratellóne (often, “member of a brotherhood”), pejorative fratellàccio, endearing fratellùccio)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Italian had many forms, among them northern [[m|roa-oit|fradello]] and [[m|roa-oit|fraello]].^(TLIO) The old plural ''frategli'' is now obsolete.^(Wiktionary)^(GDLI|6)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|frātellus|t=little brother]], a diminutive of [[m|la|frāter|t=brother]].^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)^(GRADIT 2003) DELI and Nocentini give it as a word of spoken Latin, DEI as a Late Latin word recorded by the grammarians.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|1710) In Tuscany and most of northern Italy the diminutive took the place of [[frate]], which was left with the sense “friar”; in southern Italy and Sicily, by contrast, it is the diminutive that came to mean a monk.^(DEI|1710)^(REW 1935)

+

+ Paul Aebischer (1937), followed by Giuliano Bonfante (1973), argued that the word is not a direct continuation of the Latin one but a late learned revival, since until about 1130 a brother was still called by the descendant of [[m|la|germānus|t=of the same parents]].^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The plain Latin noun survives as [[ro|frate]], [[fr|frère]] and [[pro|fraire]], and in the sense “friar” as [[es|fraile]] and [[pt|frade]].^(REW 1935) It goes back to [[itc-pro|*frātēr]], [[ine-pro|*bʰréh₂tēr|t=brother]], and is cognate with [[grc|φράτηρ|tr=phrátēr|t=member of a brotherhood]], [[sga|bráthair]] and [[m|en|brother]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in the Genoese ''Contrasto'' of the troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, about 1190.^(TLIO) DELI's first Tuscan record is a Florentine account book of 1211, with the sense “a man born of the same parents as another”.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old Italian the word took several qualified forms: ''fratello carnale'' and ''fratello germano'' for a full brother, and ''fratello cugino'' for a cousin.^(TLIO) It was also used for any man as a fellow human being, and as an affectionate form of address.^(TLIO) Dino Compagni (1310–1312) uses it for one bound to others by a religious, political or social tie, and the statutes of the Disciplinati of Siena (13th–15th century) for a member of a lay confraternity.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)

+

+ The noun ''fratellanza'' “brotherhood, fellowship” is in Dante (1304–1308), and in 1602 it named a mutual-aid society.^(DELI 1999) ''Fratellastro'' “half-brother” comes from northern Italy (Venetian ''fradelastro'' 1829, Milanese ''fradellaster'' 1840) and entered common Italian only in the second half of the 19th century.^(DELI 1999) Zingarelli records the use after a noun, ''partiti fratelli'' “sister parties”, in 1970.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ Recent uses are calques of English: young people's ''fratello'' for a friend follows American ''brother'', and ''Grande Fratello'', the all-seeing totalitarian state, follows Orwell's ''Big Brother''.^(GDLI|Supplemento 2009)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1190 – Raimbaut de Vaqueiras uses the word in his Genoese ''Contrasto''.^(TLIO)

+ * 1211 – A Florentine account book records ''fratello''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1304–1308 – Dante uses ''fratellanza'' for fellowship.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses ''fratello'' for a member of the same faction or faith.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1829 – Venetian ''fradelastro'' “half-brother” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1861 – ''Fratellastro'' appears in an Italian dictionary.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1970 – The adjectival use after a noun is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|brother]], a man or boy with the same parents as another person, or one of them; in the plural also brothers and sisters together: ''Quanti fratelli hai?''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(by extension)'' A man bound to others by friendship, a shared country, cause or ideals; also as an affectionate form of address.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(GDLI|Supplemento 2009)

+ # ''(Christianity)'' Every man as a child of God, in relation to the others; in the plural, fellow Christians.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A member of a [[m|en|confraternity]] or a [[m|en|lay brother]] of a religious order; also a title of members of some societies.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A thing closely similar or akin to another.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(as an adjective, after the noun)'' Of the same origin or principles: ''popoli fratelli''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fratellanza]]

+ * [[fratellastro]]

+ * [[fratellino]]

+ * [[fratellone]]

+ * [[affratellare]]

+ * [[confratello]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[frate]]

+ * [[fraternità]]

+ * [[fraternizzare]]

+ * [[fraterno]]

+ * [[sorella]]

+ * [[fra']]

+ * [[la|frater]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Like other names of relatives, ''fratello'' takes no article after a possessive (''mio fratello'').^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) In the old dialects of Pavia and Treviso the word for “sister” was remade on the masculine, as ''frela'' and ''fradella''.^(DEI|1710) The set phrase ''fratello di latte'' means a foster brother, one nursed by the same woman.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}