frase Italian · revision 39343

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1556, Giovanni Della Casa|origins=grc φράζω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈfra.ze/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''frase''' ''f'' (plural frasi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|phrasis|t=diction, style]], a learned borrowing, from [[grc|φράσις|tr=phrásis|t=expression, way of speaking]], a noun formed from [[m|grc|φράζω|tr=phrázō|t=to point out, tell]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012) Quintilian uses the Latin word in the sense of [[m|la|ēlocūtiō|t=style]].^(DEI|1708)^(GDLI) The origin of the Greek verb is uncertain.^(DELI 1999)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ The same word is [[fr|phrase]], recorded in 1546, and [[es|frase]];^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|1708)^(GDLI) Nocentini notes that it spread through the European languages.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|1708)^(GDLI) The set phrase [[frase fatta]] is a calque of [[m|fr|phrase faite]] (1835).^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is in Giovanni Della Casa, before 1556, for an independent unit of language with a complete meaning.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) Nocentini dates the word to 1547 and Zingarelli to 1554.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Zingarelli 2010) In Della Casa it is used of the style of a piece of writing, of which some words or the whole phrasing may seem affected.^(GDLI|6, 304)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the start the word covered both a sentence and a turn of phrase: Tasso and Tassoni speak of phrases proper to one language, and Baretti of “the commonest phrases” as the basis of every language.^(GDLI|6, 304) Tommaseo–Bellini notes that the French use ''phrase'' for a whole clause or more, while Italians used ''frase'' for a group of words whose meaning differs from that of each word alone.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ The musical sense, a complete unit of melody, appears in 1834.^(DELI 1999) Derivatives followed: ''fraseggiare'' (1651), ''frasario'' (1722 for a collection of an author's phrases, 1798 for a person's habitual phrases) and ''fraseggio'' (before 1883).^(DELI 1999) ''Fraseologia'' (1676) comes from humanist Latin ''phraseologia'', coined in the 16th century by Michael Neander.^(Nocentini 2010) In modern linguistics ''frase'' is the technical term for the sentence, and in computing it names a string of symbols that forms an instruction.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1547 – Nocentini's date for the first record.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1556 – Giovanni Della Casa uses the word.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1651 – ''Fraseggiare'' is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1676 – ''Fraseologia'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1834 – The musical sense appears.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1835 – ''Frase fatta'' is recorded, after French ''phrase faite''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(linguistics)'' A [[m|en|sentence]]: a unit of language with a complete meaning, which can stand on its own: ''Questa frase non ha il verbo.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # An [[m|en|expression]], a [[m|en|phrase]]: words used to say something: ''Non trovava la frase adatta per scusarsi.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(music)'' A musical phrase, a group of motifs with a more or less complete sense.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(puzzles)'' A word game whose solution is a sentence rather than a single word.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''(computing)'' A finite sequence of symbols that represents an instruction.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[frasario]]

+ * [[fraseggiare]]

+ * [[fraseggio]]

+ * [[fraseologia]]

+ * [[fraseologico]]

+ * [[frastico]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fr|phrase]]

+ * [[grc|φράσις|tr=phrásis]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Frase'' usually corresponds to English ''sentence'' as well as ''phrase''.^(Wiktionary) A ''frase fatta'' is a stock phrase or cliché, and in the plural ''frasi'' can mean empty words, as in ''sono solo frasi''.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}