Etymologically
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fermare

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Pronunciation

  • /ferˈma.re/[1]

Forms

fermare (first-person singular present férmo, first-person singular past historic fermài, past participle fermàto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin firmāre (“to make firm, strengthen, confirm”), from firmus (“firm, stable”).[2][3][4][5][1] Sabatini–Coletti and Wiktionary treat it as the popular form beside the learned firmare (“to sign”), though the GDLI calls it learned.[6][1][7] The verb is pan-Romance except in Romanian: Dalmatian fermuar, Friulian fermâ, French fermer (“to close”), Old Occitan fermar and Catalan fermar, while Spanish firmar and Portuguese firmar are learned.[8][3][9] In French it came to mean “to close”, replacing the older verb French clore.[8]

De Vaan derives firmus from Proto-Italic *fermo- and Proto-Indo-European *dʰer-mo- (“holding”), related to Sanskrit धर्मन् (dhárman-, “support, firm hold”); the ⟨i⟩ may come from ⟨e⟩ raised after the labial.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Giacomino Pugliese, early in the 13th century, with the sense “to conclude a pact or agreement”.[2] The sense “to stop someone or something moving” is first recorded in Bono Giamboni (before 1292).[2][3][11]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for closing and locking (Novellino, late 13th century), for fixing something in the memory (Brunetto Latini, before 1294) and for making something firmer (Dante, before 1321).[2] In the Decameron the dogs seize a girl by the flanks and “la fermarono” (stopped her).[12] The reflexive fermarsi “to stop, to stay” appears in a 14th-century translation of Livy, and Machiavelli (1503) uses fermare for booking in advance.[2]

Derivatives followed: ferma, a term of military service (second half of the 14th century), fermata “stop” (before 1644), fermacarte “paperweight” (1893) and fermacravatta “tie clip” (1925).[3][13] The police sense “to detain a suspect” goes with the noun fermo “detention”.[4][13] French borrowed the sense “to stop, stay” as the reflexive se fermer in the 16th century, now obsolete.[14]

Timeline

  • Early 13th century – Giacomino Pugliese uses fermare for concluding a pact.[2]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for stopping a movement.[2][3]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “to make firmer”.[2]
  • 14th century – The reflexive fermarsi appears in a Livy translation.[2]
  • 1503 – Machiavelli uses it for booking.[2]
  • 16th century – French se fermer “to stop” is borrowed from Italian.[14]
  • Before 1644 – Fermata is recorded.[3]
  • 1893 – Fermacarte is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To stop something or someone moving: Il portiere ha fermato il pallone con il petto.[4][11][15][1]
  2. To stop, interrupt an activity or switch off a machine: Hanno fermato la produzione per due giorni.[4][11][16]
  3. To stop someone in the street to talk to them: Una turista mi ha fermato per chiedere la strada.[4][16][17]
  4. (law) To detain a suspect: Alla frontiera hanno fermato un camionista.[4][6][15]
  5. To fix, fasten, make secure: Ferma la tenda con una molletta.[4][11][15]
  6. (figurative) To fix in the mind or on paper: Ha fermato quei ricordi in un diario.[4][11][16]
  7. To book, reserve: Abbiamo fermato due stanze per agosto.[4][15][16]
  8. (cooking) To part-cook meat so that it keeps.[4][15][17]
  9. Intransitive, of a vehicle, to stop: Il regionale ferma anche a Prato.[6][16]
  10. fermarsi: to stop, halt; to stay somewhere for a while: Ci siamo fermati a Bologna per la notte.[6][16][2]

Word family

  • fermata
  • ferma
  • fermacarte
  • fermacravatta
  • fermatura
  • raffermare
  • raffermo
  • soffermare
  • rifermare

Usage notes

DEI gives a separate 19th-century fermare “to close”, taken from French fermer, with the southern fermatura “door lock” from French fermeture.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  7. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
  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 Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  13. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
  14. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  15. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  16. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  17. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  18. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1620