furgone Italian · revision 38480

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1799, Notizie del mondo}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /furˈɡo.ne/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''furgone''' ''m'' (plural furgoni)^(Wiktionary)

+ A rarer form is [[forgone]], used in the 19th century;^(GDLI)^(Prati 1951|472)^(DEI|1737) Ugolini also records ''frugone''.^(GDLI)^(Prati 1951|472)^(DEI|1737)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|fourgon]], recorded in French from the early 17th century (1640 in GRADIT); DELI thinks the word came into Italian first as a military term, in the Napoleonic period, and Panzini already counted it among the French army words of that time.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(GDLI)

+

+ The origin of the French word is uncertain.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) Nocentini and the GDLI explain it from [[fro|fourgon|t=poker, fire rake]] (12th century): poles of this kind used in the frame of a cart's sides would have given their name to the sides, then to a “charrette à fourgon”, and by ellipsis to the vehicle.^(Nocentini 2010)^(GDLI) Nocentini traces the poker to [[la-vul|*furicō|alt=*furicōnem|t=poker]], from the verb behind [[frugare|t=to rummage]].^(Nocentini 2010) Devoto–Oli speaks of a metonymy from an iron rod with which the vehicle was fitted.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ Milanese took the same French word as [[lmo|forgon]] (1840), a military term.^(Prati 1951|472) DEI thinks Italian passed the word on to [[tr|furgon]].^(DEI|1737)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is in the ''Notizie del mondo'' of 1799, for a covered vehicle carrying goods.^(DELI 1999) The early ''furgone'' was a long covered wagon on four wheels, drawn by horses;^(GDLI) Colletta boasts that it lost “né un cassone di munizioni, né un furgone” (“neither an ammunition wagon nor a ''furgone''”).^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 19th century the word was also used for the tender of a locomotive, and Sabatini–Coletti date ''forgone'' “big cart” to 1812.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Prati 1951|472)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The GDLI lists loads of luggage, foodstuffs and coffins.^(GDLI) Panzini in 1905 has it for a closed wagon for goods, together with the diminutive [[furgoncino]].^(DELI 1999)^(Prati 1951|472)

+

+ With motor transport the word passed to the closed motor van, the main sense today; a ''furgone cellulare'' is a prison van.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) [[furgonista]], the driver of a van, is recorded in 1965.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1640 – [[fr|fourgon]] is recorded for a kind of vehicle.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1799 – First Italian record, in the ''Notizie del mondo''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1812 – ''Forgone'' is used for a big cart.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ * 1840 – Milanese ''forgon'' is recorded as a military word.^(Prati 1951|472)

+ * 1905 – Panzini records the sense “closed goods wagon” and ''furgoncino''.^(DELI 1999)^(Prati 1951|472)

+ * 1965 – ''Furgonista'' is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|van]]: a closed motor vehicle for carrying goods: ''Il fornaio consegna il pane con un furgone bianco.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(historical)'' A long covered wagon on four wheels, drawn by horses, for luggage, supplies or army baggage; also the [[m|en|tender]] of a locomotive.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(GDLI)

+ # A closed vehicle for carrying coffins, a [[m|en|hearse]].^(GDLI)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[furgoncino]]

+ * [[furgonista]]

+ * [[autofurgone]]

+ * [[motofurgone]]

+ * [[furgonato]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[frugare]]

+ * [[fr|fourgon]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Furgone cellulare'' is the van in which prisoners are taken to prison or to court.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}