fiatare

Forms

fiatare (first-person singular present fiàto, first-person singular past historic fiatài, past participle fiatàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin flātāre (“to blow”), found in Arnobius, an intensive or iterative verb formed on flō (“to blow, to breathe”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Wiktionary derives it from the participle flātus.^[1] The noun fiato “breath” continues that Latin word, a noun meaning “blowing, breath”.^[8][9][10] Among the other Romance languages REW lists the Lower Engadine fladar.^[8]

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 the Florentine Fiori di filosafi of 1271–1275, in the sense “to breathe”: old age is called morte che fiata (“a death that breathes”).^[12][13] DELI's first record is Bono Giamboni, before 1292: Se quest’uomo fiata, dunque è elli vivo (“If this man breathes, then he is alive”).^[2][13]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the verb for breathing and for being alive, for blowing out air, for the wind blowing and a smell passing on the air, for sniffing at something and, figuratively, for getting wind of it.^[12][5] From the 14th century it also meant “to utter a word”, mostly in negative sentences: DELI dates it from Domenico Cavalca, before 1342, and Prati cites non fiatare “not to say a word” from Matteo Villani.^[2][14]

In modern Italian the literal sense is uncommon, and the verb lives on mainly in the figurative sense, in phrases such as senza fiatare “without a word” and non fiatare “keep quiet”.^{[15][16][17][7]}

Timeline

• 1271–1275 – The Fiori di filosafi use fiatare “to breathe”.^[12]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the verb.^[2][17]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it in the sense “to utter a word”.^[2]
• 14th century – Fiatamento is recorded.^[4]
• 19th century – Fiatata is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (uncommon) To breathe, to let out one's breath.^{[18][15][16][1]}
2. (figurative, chiefly in the negative) To say a word, to open one's mouth, especially to object: Ha firmato tutto senza fiatare.^{[18][15][19][1]}
3. (obsolete) Of the wind, to blow gently.^[18][17][7]
4. (obsolete) To sniff; figuratively, to get wind of something.^[17][20][12]
5. (literary, transitive) To give off; to utter or reveal.^[18][17]

Word family

• fiatata
• fiatamento
• rifiatare

Related words

• fiato
• sfiatare
• enfiare
• Latin flō

Usage notes

Non fiatare con nessuno means not to tell anyone about something.^[17][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1630
5. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ 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)
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 437
15. ^ 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
16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
18. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
19. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
20. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli