facchino
Italian
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Sicilian facchinu (“jurist called upon to settle disputes related to customs”). Ultimately from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Arabic فَقِيه (faqīh, “theologian, jurisconsult, faqih”). Cognate with Spanish faquín, French faquin. The passage from a customs officer to porter would have occurred as a result of serious economic crisis in the Arab world, when, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the customs officers were forced – to survive – to the sale of fabrics that they themselves transported – on their shoulders – from square to square.
Noun
facchino m (plural facchini, feminine facchina)
- porter (person who carries luggage)
Derived terms
References
- Henriette Walter (1994) L'Aventure des langues en occident, Paris: Éditions Robert Laffont, →ISBN
- T.C. Donkin (1864) An Etymological Dictionary of the Romance Languages, London: Williams and Norgate
- “facchino” in Vocabolario Treccani
- http://www.dizionario-italiano.it/linguamadre/articolo.php?art=527