Etymologically
Log in

annuvolare

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Italian word annuvolare

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1302–1308 Bartolomeo da San Concordio More words from the 14th century
Ultimate origins
Italian a-Latin nubila,-are
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Italian nuvola
Italian annuvolare
From the same root
Italian nuvoloso ← nuvola

Pronunciation

  • /an.nu.voˈla.re/[1]

Forms

annuvolare (first-person singular present annùvolo, first-person singular past historic annuvolài, past participle annuvolàto, auxiliary avére)[1] The TLIO's Old Italian forms include anuvolato, anuvelao, anuvirao and adnuvelòne.[2] The older variant annugolare is dialectal, with nugolo for nuvolo.[3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian a- + nuvola + -are, according to DELI, GRADIT, Zingarelli, Sabatini–Coletti and the TLIO.[5][6][7][8][2] Nocentini, Devoto–Oli, Treccani and Gabrielli derive it instead from Latin annūbilāre, made from nūbilus (“cloudy”) with the prefix ad-.[9][10][11][12][1] DEI gives both possibilities, and Devoto took the Latin verb as reshaped after nuvola.[4][13] Wiktionary compares Spanish anublar.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Bartolomeo da San Concordio (1302–1308, Pisan with Florentine features), in the figurative sense “to cloud the mind”.[2][5][6] Franco Sacchetti, before 1400, uses it of the sky: Il ciel si venne annuvolando “the sky clouded over”.[5][14]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already had both senses: to cover with clouds, also of the sky darkened by missiles, and to cloud the mind.[2] The Morali di san Gregorio say that confusion annuvola e oscura la mente nostra “clouds and darkens our mind”, and Tommaseo lists the same verb used of memory.[14] Later writers used it for smoke, mist and even swarms of mosquitoes, as Montale did: annuvolano l'aria le zanzare.[3]

In modern Italian the transitive verb is uncommon; the pronominal annuvolarsi is used of the sky clouding over and, figuratively, of a face darkening.[10][7][11] For the face rannuvolarsi is more common.[11]

Timeline

  • 1302–1308 – Bartolomeo da San Concordio uses it of the mind.[2]
  • Before 1347 – DELI's date for the sense “to dim, trouble”, in the same author.[5][6]
  • Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses it of the sky clouding over.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive, uncommon) To cover with clouds, to darken: il vento annuvolò la pianura.[6][7][11]
  2. (transitive, figurative) To dim or confuse the mind: la stanchezza gli annuvola le idee.[6][8][10]
  3. (pronominal) annuvolarsi: of the sky, to cloud over.[7][8][10]
  4. (pronominal, figurative) Of a person, to become gloomy or troubled in the face.[7][8][11]

Word family

  • annuvolamento
  • annuvolato
  • rannuvolare

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 505
  4. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 214
  5. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  8. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
  12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  13. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  14. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
Cite this entry

“Annuvolare.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/it/annuvolare. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·