Etymologically
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calmare

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Pronunciation

  • /kalˈma.re/[1]

Forms

calmare (first-person singular present càlmo, first-person singular past historic calmài, past participle calmàto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is a derivative of calma (“calm”), with the verb ending -are.[2][3][4][5][1] The noun is traced by DELI and Nocentini to Late Latin cauma (“heat”), from Ancient Greek καῦμα (kaûma, “burning heat”), from καίω (kaíō, “to burn”).[2][6] Nocentini explains the change of sense among sailors, for whom the heat of the day went with the lack of wind and so with stillness, and the /l/ in place of /u/ as a hypercorrect reversal of the common Romance change of /l/ to /u/ before a consonant.[6] Wiktionary is more cautious and also mentions the influence of Latin calor (“heat”).[1]

French calme and Spanish calma were borrowed from Italian, according to Nocentini.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the poems of Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294, with the transitive sense “to calm, appease”.[2][5] The verb is thus recorded well before the noun, whose first examples are of the 15th century (Genoese carma in 1435).[2]

Semantic evolution

The reflexive calmarsi “to calm down, abate” is first found in Fazio degli Uberti, before 1367, and GRADIT takes this as the first date of the verb.[2][3] In 1582 Filippo Sassetti uses the intransitive of the wind dropping: sharks appear by the ship “quando il vento calma”.[2][7] Tommaseo noted that one said the wind calma but not the sea.[7]

From the 18th century the verb was used for passions and pains: Algarotti writes that music could kindle and calm the passions, and Monti that a letter had calmed him.[8] The present participle calmante became a noun, a sedative, in 1830.[2][6] In metallurgy GRADIT also records the verb for the treatment of steel called calmaggio.[3]

Timeline

  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses calmare “to appease”.[2][5]
  • Before 1367 – Fazio degli Uberti uses the reflexive “to calm down”.[2][3]
  • 1435 – The noun appears as carma at Genoa.[2]
  • 1582 – Filippo Sassetti uses the verb of the wind dropping.[2][7]
  • 1745 – The adjective calmante is recorded.[2]
  • 1830 – Calmante is recorded as a noun, “sedative”.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To calm, to quieten, soothe a person or a feeling: Solo la voce della madre riusciva a calmarlo.[3][4][9]
  2. To relieve, ease a pain or need: Una tisana calda può calmare la tosse.[3][4][10]
  3. (reflexive, calmarsi) To calm down, to regain one's self-control: Calmati e spiegami cos'è successo.[4][9][11]
  4. (reflexive, calmarsi) Of wind, sea, pain, to grow less intense, to abate.[4][10][12]
  5. (metallurgy) To treat steel by calmaggio.[3]

Word family

  • calmante
  • calmo
  • calmata
  • calmaggio
  • calma
  • scalmana
  • Ancient Greek καῦμα (kaûma)

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  8. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  9. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli