armare

Forms

armare (first-person singular present àrmo, first-person singular past historic armài, past participle armàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin armō (“to arm, equip”), a verb formed on arma (“weapons”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The LEI separates the two senses Latin already had, “to furnish with arms” and “to fit out a ship”, which both live on in Italian; the technical sense “to reinforce a structure” goes back instead to Medieval Latin armō “to apply, fit”, and the phrase for dubbing a knight was borrowed from the French language of chivalry, compare Old French armer (before 1110).^[6]

The verb is found in every Romance language: Romanian arma, Friulian armâ, French armer, Old Occitan armar, Catalan armar, Spanish armar, Portuguese armar and Sardinian armari.^[6][7]

De Vaan derives the noun, through Proto-Italic *armo-, from the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to fit together”): the meaning went from “things fitted together, tools” to “weapons”.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Ritmo di sant'Alessio, from the Marche in the second half of the 12th century.^[9][3] The main Old Italian sense is to equip someone with weapons, to put armour on someone and make them ready for battle.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the verb of fortifying a place, loading or nocking a weapon, fitting out a ship with men and gear, and propping up a building.^[9] DELI dates the reflexive armarsi “to arm oneself” to Dino Compagni (1310–1312), its figurative use for arming oneself with a moral quality to Dante, the transitive sense to Boccaccio (about 1336) and the nautical one to Boccaccio as well (before 1348); Vasari used it in 1550 for supports put under buildings and excavations.^[2] The LEI's earliest Florentine example of “to furnish with arms” is in Bono Giamboni (about 1292).^[6]

Later technical uses include laying the track of a railway, stretching a painted scene on a frame in the theatre, and writing the key signature in music.^[10][4][11] The joke armiamoci e partite “let us arm ourselves, and you go”, aimed at those who urge war but stay at home, was spread by L. Stecchetti in 1895.^[12]

Timeline

• 1150–1200 – The Ritmo di sant'Alessio is the first record.^[9]
• About 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses armare “to furnish with arms”.^[6]
• 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses the reflexive armarsi.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses armarsi of moral qualities.^[2]
• Before 1348 – Boccaccio uses armare of fitting out a ship.^[2]
• 1550 – Vasari uses it of supports for buildings.^[2]
• 1895 – L. Stecchetti spreads the phrase armiamoci e partite.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To arm, to supply with weapons: Il governo armò i volontari.^[4][13][5]
2. (historical) Armare qualcuno cavaliere: to dub someone a knight.^[4][13][10]
3. To fortify a place with weapons for defence.^[4][13]
4. To load or cock a firearm: Armò il fucile e aspettò.^[4][10][1]
5. (nautical) To fit out a ship or aircraft;^[4][13][11] armare i remi: to set the oars in the rowlocks ready for rowing.^[4][13][11]
6. (building) To prop up or reinforce masonry, vaults or excavations with supports.^[4][13][10]
7. (theatre) To stretch the painted canvas or paper of a scene on a frame.^[4][13]
8. (music) Armare la chiave: to write the key signature.^[11]
9. (reflexive) Armarsi: to arm oneself; jokingly, to equip oneself with anything; figuratively, to summon a quality, as in armarsi di pazienza.^[5][10][13]

Word family

• armata
• armato
• armamento
• armatore
• armatura
• armo
• disarmare
• riarmare

Related words

• arma
• Latin armō
• French armer

Usage notes

Armiamoci e partite mocks people who call others to a risky undertaking without taking part themselves.^[12][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 1238
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 c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier