divorare

Forms

divorare (first-person singular present divóro, first-person singular past historic divorài, past participle divoràto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is a half-learned word: it is borrowed from Latin dēvorō (“to swallow down, devour”), from dē- and vorō (“to swallow”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Zingarelli calls it learned, while the LEI lists the Italian verb among the inherited outcomes of the Latin word, which also survives in Friulian divorâ and the Engadine divorar.^[6][7] The same Latin verb gave French dévorer, recorded in Anglo-Norman as devurer about 1125, and Old Occitan devorar, Catalan devorar, Spanish devorar and Portuguese devorar.^[5][7][8][9]

The simple verb is probably made from a noun meaning “food” or “devouring”, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷo/erh₃- (“to swallow”).^[10] It is related to Ancient Greek βορά (borá, “fodder”), βιβρώσκω (bibrṓskō, “to eat”) and Lithuanian gérti (“to drink”).^[10][3] Old Italian had both devorare and the form with ⟨di-⟩, which prevailed.^[7][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Cremonese Libro of Uguccione da Lodi, of the early 13th century, and its first sense is of animals, especially wild beasts, eating their prey greedily and entirely.^[11] DELI's first record is the Florentine Pallamidesse, before 1280, with the same sense.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian soon used the verb figuratively, of seizing other people's goods, of swallowing things up with destructive force, of wasting wealth, of reducing something to nothing and of keeping someone in constant pain.^[11] Iacopone has devurare for “destroy, consume” before 1306.^[2] Dante writes of a beast that bites its food, ché solo a divorarlo intende e pugna (“for he strains and fights only to devour it”).^[12]

The later figurative senses are dated by DELI: covering ground at full speed in Poliziano (1475–1478), reading eagerly in A. Caro, who said of a tragedy that he had read it, rather devoured it (before 1566), and staring at someone with intense desire in T. Garzoni (1589).^[2][13] The pronominal divorarsi means to be consumed by a feeling, and in heraldry divorante describes an animal shown swallowing its prey.^[14][6][13]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi's Libro has the verb.^[11]
• 1266 – Zingarelli's date of first record.^[6]
• 1274 – Barsegapè writes Pavian devorare.^[7]
• Before 1280 – Pallamidesse uses it of animals eating greedily.^[2]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone has devurare “destroy, consume”.^[2]
• c. 1313 – Dante uses divorare.^[7]
• 1475–1478 – Poliziano uses it for covering ground at full speed.^[2]
• Before 1566 – A. Caro uses it for reading eagerly.^[2][13]
• 1589 – T. Garzoni uses it for staring with intense desire.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of animals, to devour: to eat fiercely and greedily, to tear apart: la volpe divorò la gallina.^[4][14][6]
2. Of people, to eat greedily or in a hurry, to wolf down: ha divorato tre panini in cinque minuti.^[4][6][15]
3. (figurative) To consume or destroy: un incendio ha divorato il fienile.^[14][6][13]
4. (figurative) Of an illness or passion, to torment: lo divorava la nostalgia.^[4][14][16]
5. (figurative) To squander money or an inheritance.^[4][14][6]
6. (figurative) To read eagerly in one go: divorare un romanzo.^[4][14][6]
7. (figurative) To cover a road or distance at great speed.^[4][14][6]
8. (figurative) Divorare con gli occhi, to stare at with intense desire.^[4][17][6]
9. (obsolete) To plunder, destroy or subjugate peoples and cities.^[6][4]
10. (pronominal, divorarsi) To be consumed by a feeling: si divorava dall’impazienza.^[14][16][6]

Word family

• divoratore
• divorante
• divoramento
• divorazione
• divoracità

Related words

• vorace
• voragine
• Latin vorō
• French dévorer

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1368
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 20, 92
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ 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
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana