fiammeggiare

Forms

fiammeggiare (first-person singular present fiamméggio, first-person singular past historic fiammeggiài, past participle fiammeggiàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian fiamma + -eggiare.^[2][3][4][5] The TLIO also derives it from the noun.^[6] Wiktionary instead takes it from Vulgar Latin *flammizāre, formed from flamma (“flame”) with the verb suffix -izō, and notes that the word can be analysed as the Italian noun with its suffix.^[1] Körting set up a Latin *flammidiāre and compared Catalan flamejar, Spanish llamear and Portuguese chamejar.^[7]

The Italian noun continues the Latin one.^[8] The Latin noun comes from Proto-Italic *flagmā, from the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥g- (“to shimmer, shine”), the root of flagrō (“to blaze”) and fulgeō (“to flash”).^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the verb to before 1313, and Nocentini to before 1314.^[2][8] The TLIO's first record is Dante's Commedia, where it means to give off flames.^[6] In Inferno 19 Dante compares the flames on the sinners' feet to il fiammeggiar de le cose unte “the flaming of oily things”.^[9][5]

Semantic evolution

Already in Dante the verb also meant to shine like a flame, above all of the stars, of reflected light and of supernatural light, as in Paradiso 5: S'io ti fiammeggio nel caldo d'amore “If I flame at you in the heat of love”.^[6][9][10] Boccaccio's Ameto has a holy mountain fiammeggiando, and Pulci a serpent that fiammeggiava foco from its mouth.^[9]

From the colour of flame came the sense of glowing red, while the flash gave the figurative use for eyes that blaze with anger.^[3][11][12] The transitive use in cooking, singeing plucked poultry or game over a flame, is first recorded in 1956; the dictionaries now add flambéing a dish.^[10][4][13]

Timeline

• Before 1313 – The verb is first recorded.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the verb both for flames and for shining.^[10][6]
• 1956 – The cooking sense “singe poultry over a flame” is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To blaze, to give off flames: Nel camino fiammeggiava un ceppo di quercia.^{[2][11][3][13]}
2. (intransitive, by extension) To shine or sparkle like a flame; to glow red: All'alba il cielo fiammeggiava sopra il mare.^[11][3][12]
3. (intransitive, figurative) Of the eyes, to flash with an emotion: Aveva gli occhi che fiammeggiavano di rabbia.^[3][12]
4. (transitive, cooking) To singe plucked poultry or game over a flame to burn off the down.^{[4][3][13][2]}
5. (transitive, cooking) To flambé a dish by setting fire to the spirit poured over it.^{[4][3][11][1]}

Word family

• fiammeggiante
• rifiammeggiare

Related words

• fiamma
• fiammata
• infiammare
• Latin flamma

Usage notes

The verb takes the auxiliary avere.^[4][11] In the cooking senses the dictionaries also give strinare and flambare.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana