enfiare

Forms

enfiare (first-person singular present énfio, first-person singular past historic enfiài, past participle enfiàto, auxiliary (transitive) avére or (intransitive) èssere)^[1] An older form is infiare.^[2][3][4] Old texts also write Old Italian emfiare and Old Italian enffiare.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin īnflō (“to blow into; to inflate”), formed with in- (“in, into”) on flō (“to blow”).^{[6][7][8][9][1]} The verb is pan-Romance: French enfler, Occitan enflar, Catalan inflar, Spanish hinchar, Portuguese inchar, Romanian umfla and the Logudorese unflare.^[7][10]

The noun Latin īnflātiō gave Old Italian enfiagione “swelling”, and was later taken again as the learned word inflazione.^[7] The Latin verb may come from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to blow”), a reconstruction that de Vaan marks with a question mark.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Brunetto Latini's Tesoretto, written in Florence before 1274.^[5] DELI dates the transitive sense “to swell, to make bigger” from the Fiore di virtù at the end of the 13th century, and Zingarelli gives 1266.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb above all of living bodies and their parts swelling from illness or injury, of the sea or a river rising in a storm or flood, and of a face swollen with anger.^[5][12] The reflexive enfiarsi, of parts of the body, is recorded from 1305–1306 in Giordano da Pisa.^[6] Dante has Poi si rivolse a quella ’nfiata labbia (“Then he turned to that swollen face”).^[3] Figurative senses followed: to grow, to increase, to swell with pride, and to fly into a rage.^[5][4][13]

Today the verb is literary or Tuscan, and gonfiare is the ordinary word.^[8][4][1] D'Annunzio still writes la salsedine m’enfiava le nari (“the salt air made my nostrils swell”).^[2][9]

Timeline

• Before 1274 – Brunetto Latini uses the verb in the Tesoretto.^[5]
• Before 1290 – The noun enfiagione “swelling” is recorded;^[7][6] DELI's first record of it is from the 14th century.^[7][6]
• End of the 13th century – The Fiore di virtù uses the verb transitively, “to swell”.^[6]
• 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses enfiarsi of parts of the body.^[6]
• 1550–1553 – The adjective enfio “swollen” appears in Straparola.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary, transitive) To inflate, to cause to swell: Il vento gli enfiava la vela.^[8][2][4][1]
2. (literary or Tuscan, intransitive, also enfiarsi) To swell up, especially of a part of the body: Dopo la puntura il braccio si è enfiato.^{[8][4][14][1]}
3. (obsolete, figurative) To grow proud; to become angry.^[4][13]

Word family

• enfiagione
• enfiato
• enfiatura
• enfio
• enfiamento
• disenfiare

Related words

• gonfiare
• inflazione
• soffiare
• fiato
• Latin īnflō

Usage notes

The past participle enfiato is also an adjective, “swollen”, and the contracted participle enfio has the same sense.^[6][3] In Tuscany and in older Italian the intransitive verb can be used without the reflexive particle.^[3][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ 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)
4. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
13. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1478
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana