ardere

Forms

ardere (first-person singular present àrdo, first-person singular past historic àrsi, past participle àrso, auxiliary (transitive or intransitive) avére or (also when intransitive) èssere)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ardeō (“to burn”), with the Latin second conjugation in ⟨-ēre⟩ replaced by the third in ⟨-ĕre⟩.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The LEI finds the old conjugation only in Friulian ardé and Old French ardoir; most of Romance presupposes the change, as in Romanian arde, ardi, Romansh arder, French ardre, Old Occitan ardre, Catalan ardre, Spanish arder and Portuguese arder.^[6][3][7] A further change to ⟨-ire⟩ is limited to a few dialects and Old French.^[6] The LEI does not count French hardi among the descendants.^[6]

The Latin verb is formed on āridus (“dry”), from āreō (“to be dry”), which goes back through Proto-Italic to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₁s- (“to be dry”), with cognates in Tocharian.^[8][1] DELI and Nocentini likewise connect it with arido.^[2][3] The senses “to burn”, “to shine” and “to desire ardently” were all already Latin.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, from the last quarter of the 12th century.^[9] DELI dates it from the Ritmo cassinese, of the late 12th or early 13th century, in the sense “to burn”, also metaphorically.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the first texts the verb was used for burning things and people: Brunetto Latini writes of the ruin Nero caused ardendo Roma (“burning Rome”), and Giovanni Villani of a woman sentenced to be burnt.^[10] Its forms were spread across Old Italy, from Lombard arder (before 1274) and Aretine ardare to Sicilian ardiri.^[6] The figurative fire of love was a lyric commonplace: Petrarch writes E so ben ch'i' vo dietro a quel che m'arde (“and I know well that I follow what burns me”).^[11]

Prati calls it no longer popular, and in the south the verb met forms of ustulare, while bruciare competes with it elsewhere.^{[12][13][14][1]} It survives in the set phrases legna da ardere and olio da ardere, fuel wood and lamp oil.^[4][5] The participles gave ardente (before 1292) and arso (14th century), while ardore is a learned word from the Latin noun.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1175–1200 – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur has the first record.^[9]
• Late 12th–early 13th century – The Ritmo cassinese uses it for “to burn”.^[2]
• First half of the 13th century – Arsura “burning heat” is recorded.^[3]
• Before 1276 – Pannuccio del Bagno uses ardore.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses ardente.^[2]
• Before 1320 – Riardere appears.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To burn, to consume with fire: ardere le ramaglie secche.^{[4][15][16][11][5][17][1]}
2. (transitive, by extension) To parch or scorch; to dry up, of sun or frost.^{[4][15][16][11][1]}
3. (transitive, figurative, literary) To inflame with passion or desire.^{[4][15][16][11][1]}
4. (intransitive) To be alight, to burn: nel camino arde un ceppo di quercia.^{[4][15][16][11][5][1]}
5. (intransitive) To shine, to blaze with light.^{[4][11][17][18]}
6. (intransitive) To be very hot; of a person, to burn with fever or thirst.^{[4][15][16][11][5]}
7. (intransitive, figurative) To feel a passion intensely (with di); to be in love: ardere di gelosia.^{[4][16][11][5][1]}
8. (intransitive, figurative) Of a battle or war, to rage.^{[4][15][11][17]}

Word family

• ardente
• ardore
• arso
• arsione
• arsura
• riardere
• riarso
• ardenza

Related words

• arido
• Latin ardeō

Usage notes

The past historic is arsi, ardesti and the past participle arso; when intransitive the verb takes essere or avere.^{[15][11][5][1]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
6. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 987
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 66
13. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 278
14. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
15. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
18. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)