fucile Italian · revision 38843

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1309, Giordano da Pisa|origins=la focus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /fuˈt͡ʃi.le/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fucile''' ''m'' (plural fucili)^(Wiktionary)

+ The old form is [[roa-oit|focile]], beside [[roa-oit|fucile]], [[roa-oit|fugile]] and the plural [[roa-oit|fuchili]].^(TLIO)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-vul|*focīlis]], short for a phrase meaning “fire stone”, with [[la|petra|t=stone]] understood.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) Nocentini supplies [[m|la|aciārium|t=steel]] as the noun instead, so that the phrase meant “fire steel”.^(Nocentini 2010) The adjective is a derivative of [[m|la|focus|alt=fŏcus|t=hearth; fire]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary) The GDLI calls the word semi-learned,^(GDLI) and Devoto thought it was influenced by [[fucina|t=forge]].^(Devoto 1968|193)

+

+ The sense “gun” came about by ellipsis, from the name of an [[archibugio|t=arquebus]] fired by a steel striking a flint.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) The same Late Latin adjective gave [[fr|fusil]], which GDLI records from the 13th century, after the earlier [[fro|foisil]] and [[fro|fuisil]] of the 12th.^(GDLI) From French come [[es|fusil]] and [[pt|fuzil]], the Portuguese word keeping the old sense “steel for striking fire”.^(Nocentini 2010) DEI, on the other hand, takes the French firearm word to be the Italian one passed on, with the derivatives [[fr|fusilier]] (1589) and [[m|fr|fusiller]] (1732).^(DEI|1728)^(DELI 1999) [[fur|fusîl]] and [[pms|fusil]] are related.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The origin of the Latin noun is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan rejects a link with [[la|fax|t=torch]] on formal grounds, and finds Hamp's derivation from a root meaning “to burn” difficult for its chronology.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary notes the usual comparison with [[xcl|բոց|tr=bocʻ|t=flame]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in the sermons of Giordano da Pisa (1309), where the word names the steel struck against a flint to make sparks, the same thing as an ''acciarino''.^(TLIO) DELI's first record of the old form ''focile'' is Dante's ''Inferno'' (14.39), where the burning sand catches fire ''com'esca / sotto il focile'', “like tinder under the steel”.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Until the 16th century the word meant only the fire steel, and Boccaccio's commentary on Dante explained it as a steel tool for making sparks fly from the stones “we call ''focaie''”.^(GDLI)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) The firearm sense comes from ''archibugio a fucile'', the flintlock arquebus.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) Benvenuto Cellini (before 1571) used it for the steel piece fixed to old arquebuses and pistols, against which the flint held in the cock struck and fired the charge.^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010) The firearm itself is recorded from 1630 in Nocentini and before 1680 in Raimondo Montecuccoli in DELI.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The military vocabulary of the 17th and 18th centuries grew from it: ''fuciliere'', a soldier armed with a gun, in 1655, and ''fucilata'', a gunshot, in 1744.^(DELI 1999) The verb ''fucilare'', “to execute by shooting”, appears in 1792, at first called a military neologism, and ''fucilazione'' in 1797;^(DELI 1999) DELI notes that a dictionary of 1771 still rendered French ''fusiller'' with ''archibugiare''.^(DELI 1999) By metonymy ''fucile'' is also a soldier or a marksman, as in a Sabatini example where an uncle is an excellent shot.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010) The old sense “fire steel” is now obsolete.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1309 – Giordano da Pisa uses ''fucile'' for the fire steel.^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses the form ''focile''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1571 – Benvenuto Cellini uses it for the firing piece of an arquebus.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1630 – The sense “firearm” is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1655 – ''Fuciliere'' “rifleman” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1680 – Raimondo Montecuccoli uses the word for the gun.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1744 – ''Fucilata'' “gunshot” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1792 – ''Fucilare'' “to execute by firing squad” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1797 – ''Fucilazione'' appears in a patriotic newspaper.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|rifle]] or [[m|en|shotgun]]: a portable firearm with a long steel barrel fixed to a stock that rests against the shoulder: ''Il cacciatore puliva il fucile prima di uscire.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(by extension)'' A weapon of similar shape that is not a firearm, such as an air gun or a spear gun for underwater fishing.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(by metonymy)'' A soldier armed with a rifle; a marksman: ''Era il miglior fucile del reggimento.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(obsolete)'' A fire steel, an [[acciarino]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fucilare]]

+ * [[fucilata]]

+ * [[fucilazione]]

+ * [[fucileria]]

+ * [[fuciliere]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fuoco]]

+ * [[focaccia]]

+ * [[fr|fusil]]

+ * [[la|focus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ DEI lists a second, anatomical ''fucile'' of the 14th to 17th centuries, the same as ''focile'', the old name of a bone of the forearm or the leg.^(DEI|1728) Common phrases include ''fucile da caccia'' (hunting gun), ''fucile a pompa'' (pump-action shotgun) and ''fucile subacqueo'' (spear gun).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}