freddo Italian · revision 38074

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈfred.do/^(Wiktionary)

+ * Milan: /ˈfrɛd.do/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''freddo''' (feminine fredda, masculine plural freddi, feminine plural fredde, superlative freddissimo, diminutive freddìno or freddolìno (adjective or noun) or freddùccio, pejorative freddàccio)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Italian forms include ''fredo'', ''fregio'', ''freido'' and ''fregdo'' in the north, and ''friddu'' in the south.^(TLIO) Lucchese has the half-learned ''friggido''.^(DEI|1712)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-lat|frigdus]], the syncopated Late Latin form of [[la|frīgidus|t=cold]].^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary)^(DEI|1712)^(GDLI) The short form is attested as “fricda” in the Appendix Probi, which corrects it to “frigida”, and as “fridus” in an inscription at Pompeii.^(Körting 1907)^(Wiktionary) [[frigido|alt=Frigido]] is the later learned doublet.^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The Romance forms point to a short “ĭ”.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) DELI, DEI, the GDLI and Meyer-Lübke explain it by the influence of [[m|la|rigidus|t=stiff]];^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|1712)^(GDLI)^(REW 1935) Nocentini sees a prosodic change of Romance in words stressed on the antepenultimate.^(Nocentini 2010) Devoto notes that the early loss of the inner vowel kept the “g”, which survives in the doubled consonant, while in [[la|digitus]] it was lost first and gave [[dito]].^(Devoto 1968)

+

+ The word is found throughout Romance except Romanian: [[fr|froid]], [[oc|freg]], [[fur|fred]], [[rm|fraid]] and [[sc|frittu]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|1712)^(REW 1935) [[es|frío]] and [[pt|frio]] may continue the long “ī” of the classical form, though Meyer-Lübke notes that Old Spanish had “fredo”.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)

+

+ [[m|la|frīgidus|alt=Frīgidus]] is formed from [[m|la|frīgeō|t=to be cold]] and [[m|la|frīgus|t=cold, frost]].^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012) “Frīgus” goes back to [[ine-pro|*sríHgos]] and matches [[grc|ῥῖγος|tr=rhîgos|t=frost, shivering]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary)^(Devoto 1968)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in the Genoese ''Contrasto'' of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, about 1190, with the sense “at a much lower temperature than the one who feels it”.^(TLIO) DELI dates the adjective to before 1292 (Bono Giamboni) and the noun “absence of heat” to before 1294 (Brunetto Latini).^(DELI 1999) Giamboni tells of a man who bathed sweating in the ''fiume freddissimo'' Cydnus and froze.^(GDLI|6, 322)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In medieval science ''freddo'' was one of the four primary qualities of matter, beside hot, wet and dry, and in humoral medicine the quality of an organ or temperament.^(TLIO) The figurative sense “not carried away by passion” is recorded before 1342 in Domenico Cavalca;^(DELI 1999)^(Prati 1951) Boccaccio and Petrarch also used it for “sluggish”.^(DELI 1999)^(Prati 1951) The noun names the sensation of cold from 1304 (Giordano da Pisa) and the winter season before 1313.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ Many fixed phrases followed: ''sangue freddo'' “composure”, ''a freddo'' “without preparation”, ''sudare freddo'', and ''doccia fredda'', which Panzini in 1905 explained as a figure from the calming cold shower of medicine.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) The derivative [[freddura]] meant “cold” in the 13th century and in the Baroque age came to mean a cold, laboured witticism, today a pun.^(DELI 1999) [[freddare]] “to cool” took the sense “to kill on the spot” before 1665, in Lorenzo Lippi.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * About 1190 – ''Freddo'' in the Genoese ''Contrasto'' of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras.^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the adjective.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses the noun “absence of heat”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1304 – Giordano da Pisa uses the noun for the sensation of cold.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for “unmoved by passion”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1635 – Alessandro Tassoni uses ''freddura'' for a witticism.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1665 – Lorenzo Lippi uses ''freddare'' for “kill”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1905 – Panzini explains ''doccia fredda''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|cold]], at a low temperature or lower than that of the surroundings or the body: ''Ho le mani fredde.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of weather or a place: cold: ''Quest'anno l'inverno è stato molto freddo.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # Of food or drink: not heated, served cold: ''una cena fredda''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(sports)'' Of muscles or an athlete: not yet warmed up.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Unmoved by emotion, [[m|en|detached]], unfriendly; also calm, clear-headed: ''Ci ha accolti con un sorriso freddo.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wikizionario)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # Cold, low temperature; the sensation it causes: ''Stanotte fa un gran freddo.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The cold season, winter: ''I primi freddi sono arrivati presto.''^(DELI 1999)^(Wikizionario)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[freddare]]

+ * [[freddezza]]

+ * [[freddoloso]]

+ * [[freddura]]

+ * [[raffreddare]]

+ * [[raffreddore]]

+ * [[infreddare]]

+ * [[infreddolire]]

+ * [[rifreddo]]

+ * [[semifreddo]]

+ * [[freddamente]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[frigido]]

+ * [[la|frīgidus]]

+ * [[fr|froid]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Avere freddo'' is “to be cold” (of a person), ''fare freddo'' “to be cold” (of the weather).^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) ''A sangue freddo'' means “in cold blood”, and ''animali a sangue freddo'' are cold-blooded animals.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}