Etymologically
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esplodere

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Pronunciation

  • /esˈplɔ.de.re/[1]

Forms

esplodere (first-person singular present esplòdo, first-person singular past historic esplòsi, past participle esplòso, auxiliary (in the intransitive sense "to explode") èssere or (transitively or in the intransitive sense "to fire", of a weapon) avére)[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowed from Latin explōdere (“to drive off by clapping, to hiss off the stage”), a compound of ex- (“out”) and plōdō, an old variant of plaudō (“to clap”).[2][3][4][5][6] The sense “to burst” was taken from French, where French explosion (1581), French explosif (1691) and the verb French exploser (1801) had it;[2][3][7] Prati thought “esplosione” itself might come from French.[8]

The Latin verb plaudō probably goes back to Proto-Italic *plaude- (“to clap the hands”); de Vaan, after Oettinger and Meiser, derives it from a noun Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₂u- (“palm of the hand”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in Antonio Cocchi (before 1758) and Francesco Algarotti (before 1764), in the Latin sense “to dispel, to do away with”: Cocchi praises whoever widens human knowledge enough to esplodere an old and universal error.[2][9][4]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive esplodere “to burst” (of a mine or a bomb) is recorded in D'Alberti's dictionary in 1797, and the transitive “to fire a shot” in Alessandro Volta (before 1827).[2] Esplosione is earlier, from 1748 (Cocchi), and esplosivo is used figuratively in 1792 and literally in 1834; the noun esplosivo “explosive substance” appears in 1885.[2][3] Esploso “burst” is from 1831; as a noun, an exploded drawing of a machine, it follows English exploded.[2][3]

The figurative sense, to burst out in violent feelings, is in Camillo Sbarbaro (1920–1948).[2] Today the verb is also used of anything that breaks out suddenly and strongly, a heatwave, a fashion or a crisis, and in computing of decompressing a file.[4][10][7] Implodere (1983), implosione and implosivo were formed by changing the prefix.[3]

Timeline

  • 1748 – Antonio Cocchi uses esplosione.[2]
  • Before 1758 – Cocchi uses esplodere for “to dispel”.[2]
  • 1797 – D'Alberti's dictionary records it for “to burst”.[2]
  • 1801 – French exploser is recorded.[2]
  • Before 1827 – Alessandro Volta uses it for “to fire a shot”.[2]
  • 1885 – Esplosivo “explosive substance” is recorded.[2]
  • 1917 – Esploditore “blasting machine” is recorded.[2]
  • 1920–1948 – Camillo Sbarbaro uses it for outbursts of feeling.[2]
  • 1983 – Implodere is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive) To explode, to blow up: Durante la notte è esplosa una bombola del gas.[4][10][7]
  2. (intransitive, figurative) To break out suddenly and with force: In agosto è esploso il caldo.[4][10][7]
  3. (intransitive, figurative) Of feelings, to burst out; of a person, to lose one's temper or exclaim violently: A un certo punto è esploso e se n'è andato.[4][10][11]
  4. (transitive) To fire (a shot) from a gun: L'agente ha esploso due colpi in aria.[4][10][5]
  5. (computing) To decompress (a file).[4][7]
  6. (archaic) To dispel (an error or prejudice).[4][9]

Word family

  • esplosione
  • esplosivo
  • esplodente
  • esploditore
  • esploso
  • implodere

Usage notes

In the sense “to blow up” the verb takes essere (la mina è esplosa); used of a firearm it takes avere.[11][1] Besides /esˈplɔdere/ with open /ɔ/, a pronunciation with closed /o/ is also heard.[12]

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 m n o 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 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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 409
  9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ Canepari, Luciano, DiPI: Dizionario di pronuncia italiana, online ed., dipionline.it