Etymologically
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bruciare

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Pronunciation

  • /bruˈt͡ʃa.re/[1]

Forms

bruciare (first-person singular present brùcio, first-person singular past historic bruciài, past participle bruciàto, auxiliary (transitive) avére or (intransitive) èssere)[1] Old and dialect forms include bruggiare, brusare and brusciare;[2] brusciare is in Dante.[2] The TLIO lists bruxar, brusà, brusado and brugiare among the Old Italian forms.[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *brusiāre, a verb whose origin is among the most disputed in Romance etymology.[2][4][5][6] Some connect it with Latin ūrō (“to burn”) (past participle ūstum), others with a pre-Latin Mediterranean word for scorched leaves.[2][7] Hermann Kramer reviewed 35 explanations of French brûler and settled on the one Muratori gave in 1739, Vulgar Latin *perustulāre, from ustulō (“to scorch”) with per-.[2][1]

The LEI rejects that base as phonetically impossible, since the voiced forms of northern Italy, such as Venetian brusar, cannot come from a group /stl/.[8] It posits instead a pre-Latin root meaning “burn”, parallel to the one behind brace, probably related to Proto-Indo-European *bʰrūs- (“to roar; to boil”) and Middle High German brūsen.[8] Nocentini derives the verb from Vulgar Latin *brasia (“burning ember”), from Gothic *brasa, the source of that noun, with the unstressed /a/ turned to /u/ as in annusare and fiutare, and Devoto–Oli follows him.[4][9] He also holds that the verb arose in the Gallo-Italian area, separately from the French one.[4]

The verb spread from northern Italy, where it is still very common with its derivatives, and was adapted in Tuscany.[2][4] It is also Occitan brusar and Romansh brüschar.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Medieval Latin documents of northern Italy have the past participle early: ad molendinum bruxatum (to the burnt mill) at Vercelli in 1184, and place names such as Brusiado at Nonantola in 1057.[8][4] The TLIO's first Italian record is in the Cremonese poet Uguccione da Lodi, at the beginning of the 13th century, and DELI's is Genoese bruxar in the Anonimo genovese of 1294, in the sense “to destroy by fire”.[3][2] The Tuscan form is in Boccaccio's Decameron (1348–1353): “fatemi bruciare” (have me burned).[2][10]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb already meant to burn, to be in flames, to cremate and, figuratively, to torment and to inflame with love.[3] Later senses are “to corrode” (before 1537, Vannoccio Biringuccio), “to dry up, parch” (before 1566, Annibal Caro) and “to be intense”, of feelings (1817, Giacomo Leopardi).[2] Even in the 18th century writers hesitated between bruciare, abbruciare and abbruggiare.[2]

In 1863 Fanfani records the reflexive in the sense “to have no money”, and in 1865 the sporting use “to beat”.[2] The phrases bruciare le tappe and bruciare le cervella follow French brûler l'étape and brûler la cervelle.[2] In the clandestine struggle of the Second World War a place known to the police was bruciato, “burnt”, and in 1950 Migliorini recorded gioventù bruciata, the cynical youth of the post-war years.[2]

Timeline

  • 1057 – The place name Brusiado is recorded at Nonantola.[8]
  • 1184 – Bruxatum “burnt” appears in a Vercelli document.[8]
  • Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses the verb.[3]
  • 1294 – Genoese bruxar appears in the Anonimo genovese.[2]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante writes brusciare.[2]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses bruciare.[2]
  • Before 1537 – Vannoccio Biringuccio uses it for “to corrode”.[2]
  • 1739 – Muratori proposes a Latin origin for the verb.[2]
  • 1817 – Giacomo Leopardi uses it of feelings.[2]
  • 1950 – Gioventù bruciata is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To burn, destroy or consume with fire or heat: Abbiamo bruciato le foglie secche in giardino.[5][6][11]
  2. (transitive) To damage by burning, to scorch; to spoil food by overcooking: Ho bruciato il sugo.[5][6][9]
  3. (transitive) To scald, burn the skin, (popular) to cauterize.[5][9][12]
  4. (transitive) To consume fuel or energy: Questa macchina brucia poca benzina.[5][6]
  5. (transitive) Of an acid, to corrode; of heat or frost, to dry up, wither.[5][11]
  6. (transitive, figurative) To waste: Ha bruciato un'occasione unica.[5][11][6]
  7. (transitive, figurative) To ruin someone's career; to beat a rival, especially at the last moment.[5][11][12]
  8. (intransitive) To be on fire, to burn: La legna brucia nel camino.[11][6]
  9. (intransitive) To be very hot; to sting, smart: Mi brucia la ferita.[11][6]
  10. (intransitive, figurative) To burn with a feeling: Bruciava dalla voglia di partire.[11][2]

Word family

  • bruciore
  • bruciato
  • bruciatura
  • bruciatore
  • bruciante
  • bruciapelo
  • bruciacchiare
  • bruciata
  • bruciaticcio
  • abbruciare
  • brace

Usage notes

Common figurative phrases are bruciare le tappe (to make very fast progress), bruciare i ponti (to break off all relations) and bruciare il paglione (to break a promise, or to leave without paying).[5][9][11] The pronominal bruciarsi means “to burn oneself”.[2][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v 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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  4. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 7, 833
  9. ^ 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
  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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  12. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana