dorare

Forms

dorare (first-person singular present dòro, first-person singular past historic dorài, past participle doràto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin deaurāre (“to gild”), formed from Latin aurum (“gold”) with the prefix dē-.^[2][3][4][5] Battisti–Alessio notes that Tertullian has it for classical aurāre, and Wiktionary and Devoto–Oli derive it from that verb.^[6][7][1][8] The participle deaurātus and the agent noun deaurātor were Late Latin too.^[2][9] Aurum is from Proto-Italic *auso-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂é-h₂us-o- (“glow”).^[10]

The verb survives in every Romance language except Romanian: French dorer, Old Occitan daurar, Catalan daurar, Spanish dorar, Portuguese dourar and Sursilvan dorar.^[11][3] The participle is the most common form everywhere, as already in the Vulgate.^[11] Classical aurāre itself gave only learned and half-learned Italian forms, orare and aurare “to gild”, mostly of the 14th century.^[12] The sense “to flatter”, found only in Italian, shows the influence of adorare.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Bolognese Matteo dei Libri, in the second half of the 13th century;^[13][2][11] DELI dates the sense “to cover with a thin layer of gold” to Bono Giamboni, before 1292.^[13][2][11] The participle dorato is older, in Ubertino d'Arezzo before 1266.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for covering things wholly or partly with gold and for adorning with gold, and figuratively for embellishing a speech with rhetoric.^[13] Dante extends it to giving a golden colour, in the fair hair ch'Amor per consumarmi increspa e dora.^[2][4] Sienese goldsmiths' statutes forbade gilding coins.^[7]

The kitchen sense, cooking food until it turns golden, is recorded in 1869 in Tommaseo–Bellini; cooks also dorano food by dipping it in beaten egg or brushing pastry with yolk.^[2][4][14] Bookbinders dorano titles and ornaments onto leather spines with gold leaf.^[4][14] Dorare la pillola, usually indorare la pillola, is to sweeten an unpleasant matter.^[8][15]

Timeline

• Before 1266 – Ubertino d'Arezzo uses dorato “gilded”.^[2]
• Second half of the 13th century – Matteo dei Libri uses the verb at Bologna.^[13][11]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses dorare and doratura.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for making something golden in colour.^[2]
• 1632 – Doratore “gilder” is recorded in a Florentine document.^[2]
• 1869 – Tommaseo–Bellini records the cooking sense.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To gild, to cover with a thin layer of gold: dorare un candelabro.^[4][8][5]
2. (transitive, bookbinding) To stamp gold lettering or ornaments onto leather, especially the spine of a book.^[4][8][14]
3. (transitive, cooking) To dip food in beaten egg before frying, or to brush pastry with egg so that it browns.^[4][8][15]
4. (transitive, cooking) To cook food until it turns golden, to brown it: dorare l'aglio nell'olio.^[4][5][16]
5. (literary, transitive) To make golden, to bathe in golden light.^[4][8][16]
6. (dorarsi) To turn golden.^[8][5][15]

Word family

• dorato
• doratura
• doratore
• indorare
• ridorare

Related words

• oro
• adorare
• Latin aurum
• French dorer

Usage notes

Dorare la pillola “to sugar the pill” is more often indorare la pillola.^[8][14]

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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
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 c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1383
7. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
10. ^ 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 e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 19, 373
12. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 2355
13. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
14. ^ 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)
15. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli