caleffare

Forms

caleffare (first-person singular present calèffo, first-person singular past historic caleffài, past participle caleffàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] An old variant is galeffare, used by Varchi.^[2][3]

Etymology

Most dictionaries give it as inherited from Latin calefacere (“to make warm, to heat; to press hard, to excite”), a compound of caleō (“to be warm”) and faciō (“to make”), with the sense of mocking taken as a figurative use of “to heat”.^[4][5][6][7] Körting also preferred this explanation, taking the mocking sense as “making someone warm”.^[8] Wiktionary adds that the senses of joking and mocking may have been influenced by Old High German klaffōn (“to chatter”).^[1]

Diez thought of a Germanic source, and Zaccaria derived it from Middle High German klaffen (“to chatter, to slander”).^[9] Bugge proposed Ancient Greek χλευάζω (khleuázō, “to mock”), under which Meyer-Lübke lists the word, though he judged this impossible in its sounds.^[10][8] The TLIO calls the origin uncertain and cites two further proposals: Pellegrini's Arabic word for “wrapping” and Lombardic kleofjan.^[11] Prati treats the two senses as separate verbs and gives the Latin source only as possible for the mocking one.^[2]

DEI calls it a northern word and compares Lombard sghelefà (“to mock”) of Ticino.^[7] Meyer-Lübke adds Lombard galöfà (“to cheat”) of Brescia and Romansh kajaf (“mockery”) of the Engadine, and Albertino Mussato's Latin ⟨calefus⟩, a wandering singer.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the poems of Antonio da Tempo (1332), with the sense “to make fun of someone, to joke”.^[11][3]

Semantic evolution

Franco Sacchetti's tales use it for joking and mocking: io credea che tu caleffassi (“I thought you were joking”).^[12][13] Cennino Cennini uses it in painting for brightening a colour with oil or varnish.^[14][13] Both senses are now obsolete.^[4][3]

Timeline

• 1332 – Antonio da Tempo uses the verb in the sense “to mock, to joke”.^[11][3]
• About 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses it for joking;^[4][12][13] Cennino Cennini uses it of brightening colours.^[4][12][13]

Meanings

Verb

1. (obsolete) To mock or make fun of someone; to do something as a joke.^[4][5][3]
2. (obsolete) To brighten or reinvigorate a colour.^[6][12][1]

Word family

• caleffatore

Related words

• calfare
• Latin calefaciō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 208
3. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 678
8. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 2, 643