fronte Italian · revision 38418

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 12th century, Proverbia quae dicuntur (Venetian)|origins=la frons}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈfron.te/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fronte''' ''f'' (plural fronti)^(Wiktionary)

+ In the sense “forehead” the noun is feminine, ''la fronte'' (plural ''le fronti''), and literary Italian also used it as a masculine; in the military and political senses it is masculine, ''il fronte''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) Old forms include [[roa-oit|front]], [[roa-oit|fronta]], [[roa-oit|fronto]] and [[roa-oit|frunti]].^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|frons|t=forehead, brow; front]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary) GRADIT gives the Latin source as a variant with /u/ beside the usual form with short /o/.^(GRADIT 2003) The GDLI alone calls it a learned word.^(GDLI) The word is found in all the Romance languages: [[fr|front]], [[oc|front]], [[ca|front]], [[es|frente]], [[pt|fronte]], [[sc|fronte]] and [[ro|frunte]], and medieval texts have [[osp|fruente]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(Körting 1907) It also passed into Basque.^(DEI|1722)

+

+ The origin of the Latin word is unknown.^(Nocentini 2010)^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan finds no plausible etymology: a link with the PIE word for “eyebrow”, [[ine-pro|*h₃bʰruH-]], is tempting in meaning but leaves the suffix unexplained, and other proposals are very speculative.^(de Vaan 2008) Devoto compares its structure with [[la|mons|t=mountain]], genitive ⟨montis⟩.^(Devoto 1968|192)

+

+ The Latin noun was feminine, but archaic Latin, Vitruvius and Gellius also have it as a masculine, and Italian inherited this hesitation, as with other nouns in ⟨-e⟩ such as [[fonte]].^(DELI 1999) In the military sense the word was first feminine; it became masculine during the First World War, probably under the influence of the masculine [[fr|front]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|1722)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in the ''Proverbia quae dicuntur'', a Venetian poem of the late 12th century.^(TLIO) DELI's first date is the early 13th-century ''Canzone del fi' Aldobrandino'', which describes a forehead covered with hair as a horrible sight; the sense is the part of the head between the eyebrows and the hairline.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the forehead the word passed to the whole face and its expression: Dante uses it for the face or look before 1321, and answers with “shamefaced brow” (''con vergognosa fronte'').^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) Medieval medicine placed the imagination in the front of the brain, and Old Italian also used the word for the prow of a ship and the front of a war machine.^(TLIO) The front of buildings is in the 14th-century Bible translations, the end of a glacier in Angelo Secchi in 1879, and the first part of the stanza of a ''canzone'' in Lodovico Dolce in 1566.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The military sense starts with the front rank of an army drawn up for battle, in Bono Giamboni before 1292;^(DELI 1999) the line where opposing armies face each other is recorded as ''fronte della battaglia'' in 1869.^(DELI 1999) In 1918 Panzini noted the wartime debate over ''il fronte'' and ''la fronte'': ''la fronte'' was the good classical usage, but ''il fronte'' was the popular one.^(DELI 1999) The political sense, an alliance of parties, is a metaphor from the military one.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) Meteorology uses ''fronte'' for the boundary between air masses (''fronte freddo'', ''fronte caldo'').^(Wiktionary)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ Derivatives include ''fronteggiare'' (Dante), ''frontespizio'', from Late Latin ''frontispicium'', and ''frontiera'', borrowed from Old Occitan in the 13th century.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) German borrowed ''Fronte'' in architecture and in military use.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 12th century – ''Fronte'' is recorded in the Venetian ''Proverbia quae dicuntur''.^(TLIO)

+ * Early 13th century – The ''Canzone del fi' Aldobrandino'' uses it for the forehead.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for the front rank of an army.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses it for the face, the look.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 14th century – The Bible translations use it for the front of buildings.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1566 – Lodovico Dolce uses it for the first part of a ''canzone'' stanza.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1869 – ''Fronte della battaglia'', the battle line, is recorded by Tommaseo and Bellini.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1879 – Angelo Secchi uses it for the end of a glacier.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1915–1918 – The masculine ''il fronte'' wins out in the military sense.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun (feminine)===

+ # The [[m|en|forehead]], the part of the face between the eyebrows and the hairline; also the same part of an animal's head: ''Si asciugò il sudore dalla fronte.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(by extension)'' The head; the face as the mirror of one's feelings: ''Gli si leggeva la preoccupazione in fronte.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # The front part of something, facing the observer: the [[m|en|façade]] of a building, the end of a glacier.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The front rank of a line of soldiers or gymnasts; in commands, ''fronte a destra'', ''fronte a sinistra''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(metrics)'' In the old ''canzone'', the first part of the stanza.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun (masculine)===

+ # ''(military)'' The [[m|en|front]], the zone where opposing armies face each other: ''Il nonno partì per il fronte nel 1916.''^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(politics)'' An alliance of parties or groups with a common aim: ''un fronte delle opposizioni''.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ # ''(meteorology)'' The boundary between two air masses of different temperature: ''fronte freddo''.^(Wiktionary)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fronteggiare]]

+ * [[frontespizio]]

+ * [[frontiera]]

+ * [[frontino]]

+ * [[frontismo]]

+ * [[frontista]]

+ * [[frontone]]

+ * [[frontale]]

+ * [[frontalino]]

+ * [[frontaliere]]

+ * [[affrontare]]

+ * [[affronto]]

+ * [[raffrontare]]

+ * [[raffronto]]

+ * [[confrontare]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[difronte]]

+ * [[la|frons]]

+ * [[fr|front]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Common phrases are ''di fronte'' “opposite, in front”, ''di fronte a'' “in the face of”, ''fare fronte a'' “to cope with, meet”, ''a fronte di'' “against, compared with”, ''testo a fronte'' “facing text” in a translation, and ''a fronte alta'' “with one's head held high”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011) ''Col sudore della fronte'' means by one's own hard work.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}