fiammare

Forms

fiammare (first-person singular present fiàmmo, first-person singular past historic fiammài, past participle fiammàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin flammō (“to flame, burn”), from flamma (“flame”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The GDLI calls it learned, and the TLIO derives it within Italian from fiamma.^[7][8]

The same Latin verb gave Sardinian flammare, Friulian flama and French flammer.^[9] Körting adds Old Occitan flamar and Catalan flamar.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a legend of Saint Margaret from the end of the 13th century, written in Piacenza and copied in Verona.^[8] The sense is “to produce a flame or an effect like a flame”.^[8] Many of the old records are forms of the present participle, such as fiammante, fiambante and framanti.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses it of the blessed souls in Paradiso 24, wheeling fiammando, volte, a guisa di comete, “flaming, as they turned, like comets”, and the commentator Buti glosses it with fiammeggiare.^[7][11] Old Italian also used it for stirring someone with strong emotion and, reflexively, for turning bright red.^[8] Giusto de' Conti has a transitive use, “to heat, inflame”.^[7] D'Annunzio and Rebora revived it in poetry.^[7]

The verb is now archaic or poetic, and only its present participle fiammante remains in common use.^[2][3][6]

Timeline

• Late 1200s – The legend of Saint Margaret uses the verb.^[8]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses fiammando in the Paradiso.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, archaic, poetic) To blaze, shine with a fierce flame-like light; to fiammeggiare: fiammando, volte, a guisa di comete (Dante).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]}

Word family

• fiammante

Related words

• fiamma
• fiammeggiare
• Latin flamma

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET