arrabbiare

Forms

arrabbiare (first-person singular present arràbbio, first-person singular past historic arrabbiài, past participle arrabbiàto, auxiliary èssere)^[1] Old forms include arabbiare and Sicilian arayari.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Italian a- + rabbia + -are, a parasynthetic verb.^[3][4][1] Southern Italian arraggiare is its phonetic counterpart, from raggia, the southern form of the noun.^[5] Parallel verbs from the same noun are French rager, Catalan rabiar, Spanish rabiar and Portuguese raivar (“to rage”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Bono Giamboni's translation of Orosius (before 1292), in the sense of an animal becoming rabid.^[2] DELI dates the sense “to fly into a rage” from Cecco Angiolieri, before 1313.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb was also figurative: to behave like a rabid animal or a madman under the spur of desire or pain, to rage against someone, and even to go mad.^[2] A 14th-century treatise says that animals which see a certain shadow in the water go rabid, and that a person they bite will go rabid too.^[7][8]

The pronominal arrabbiarsi, now the usual verb for getting angry, is recorded from before 1463 (Guiniforto delli Barbigi).^[3] Exaggerated uses such as arrabbiare dalla fame or dalla sete, to suffer badly from hunger or thirst, are recorded too.^[7][9] Tommaseo–Bellini records the coarse oath ch'i' arrabbi (“may I go rabid”), used to swear that something is true.^[8]

The participle arrabbiato meant “rabid” in Iacopone (before 1306) and “angry” in Dante (before 1321); arrabbiatura, a fit of anger, is recorded from 1865.^[3]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses arrabbiare of animals that become rabid.^[2]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone uses arrabbiato “rabid”.^[3]
• Before 1313 – Cecco Angiolieri uses the verb for getting angry.^[3]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses arrabbiato “angry”.^[3]
• Before 1463 – The pronominal arrabbiarsi is recorded.^[3]
• 1865 – Arrabbiatura is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, of animals) To catch rabies, to become rabid.^[4][10][11]
2. (intransitive, usually pronominal arrabbiarsi) To get angry, to lose one's temper: Si è arrabbiata perché nessuno l'aveva avvertita.^[10][12][11]
3. (fare arrabbiare) To make someone angry: Smettila di farmi arrabbiare!^[10][11][13]
4. (figurative) To suffer badly from hunger, thirst, heat and the like: arrabbiare dalla sete.^[9][13][11]
5. (transitive, rare) To make rabid; to make furious.^[4][13]
6. (of plants or soil) To wither from too much heat.^[13]

Word family

• arrabbiato
• arrabbiatura
• arrabbiamento
• arrabbiata

Related words

• rabbia
• rabbioso

Usage notes

GRADIT marks the plain verb as rare: the common form is arrabbiarsi.^[4][11] A separate, technical arrabbiare (also arrobbiare) meant to dye with robbia, madder; it comes from robbia.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 299
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ 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, 678
8. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ a b c 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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 693