fumar

Forms

fumar (first-person singular present fumo, first-person singular preterite fumí, past participle fumat)^[1] The final /r/ of the infinitive is silent except in Valencian.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fūmō (“to emit smoke, to smoke”).^[2][3][1] Bruguera lists it among the derivatives of fum “smoke”.^[4] The Latin verb was made from fūmus (“smoke”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *dʰuh₂mós (“smoke”).^[5][6]

The same Latin verb is Italian fumare, French fumer, Romanian fuma, Spanish fumar and Portuguese fumar.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Llibre dels fets of Jaume I, where the king and his knights see smoke coming from the val through a tunnel the Saracens had dug beneath it: e vim fumar lo val per una cava.^[8][2] The verb meant “to give off smoke”.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive sense “to give off smoke” is the old one, found in Jaume March's dictionary of rhymes and glossed by Onofre Pou in 1575; it is still used of a hot soup or a chimney.^[9] The transitive “to blacken with smoke” led to a causative use, making lit tobacco smoke; this in turn gave smoking a cigar or a pipe and to the absolute jo fumo “I smoke”.^[9] The participle fumat “blackened by smoke” is recorded in 1497.^[9]

Esteve, Bellvitges and Juglà (1803–1805) give smoking tobacco as the first sense, before covering with smoke and giving off smoke.^[10] Escrig's Valencian dictionary of 1851 records the reflexive in the sense “to take offence, get angry”.^[11][2] The DIEC2 adds subjecting food to smoking.^[12]

Timeline

• 1244–1274 – vim fumar lo val in the Llibre dels fets of Jaume I.^[8][2]
• 1460 – may carn hi fuma, in Jaume Roig's Spill.^[8]
• 1497 – fumat “blackened by smoke”.^[9]
• 1575 – Onofre Pou glosses fumar as making or giving off smoke.^[9]
• 1803–1805 – Esteve, Bellvitges and Juglà list smoking tobacco first.^[10]
• 1851 – Escrig records fumar-se “to get angry”.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To expose to smoke; to blacken with smoke: Hem fumat un vidre per mirar l'eclipsi.^[12][3]
2. (transitive) To smoke food, to cure it with smoke.^[12][3]
3. (pronominal) Of food, to take on a smoky taste or colour.^[12][3]
4. (transitive) To inhale the smoke of tobacco or another burning herb: Fumava una pipa cada vespre.^[12][3][1]
5. (intransitive) To smoke tobacco: El metge li ha dit que deixi de fumar.^[12][3]
6. (intransitive) To give off smoke: La llenya mullada fumava molt.^[12][3]
7. (pronominal) To take offence, to get angry.^[2][11]

Word family

• fumador
• fumat
• fumatge

Related words

• fum
• fumejar
• fumer
• fumera
• fumigar
• Latin fūmō
• Spanish fumar

Usage notes

The DCVB heads a second fumar, a euphemistic variant of fotre.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. fumar
3. ^ a b c d e f g Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. fumar
4. ^ Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 429
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3566
8. ^ a b c d Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. fumar
9. ^ a b c d e f Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 4, 226
10. ^ a b Esteve, Joaquim; Bellvitges, Josep; Juglà, Antoni (1803–1805), Diccionario catalán-castellano-latino, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. fumar
11. ^ a b c Escrig, José (1851), Diccionario valenciano-castellano, Valencia, p. s.v. fumar
12. ^ a b c d e f g Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. fumar