folgore

Forms

folgore f (plural folgori)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fulgur (“lightning, flash”).^[2][3][4][1] Nocentini starts from Vulgar Latin *fulgure, and Zingarelli and Gabrielli from the ablative case of the Latin noun.^[5][6][7] Sabatini–Coletti explains the final -e by analogy with the consonant stems.^[8] The GDLI calls it learned.^[9] The type survives in the Apennine and southern dialects, as Neapolitan fruvole.^[10][11] A Latin variant with the stem ⟨fulger-⟩ gave Romanian fulger, Old French fuildre (modern French foudre) and Old Occitan folzer.^[5][11][10]

The Latin noun comes from Proto-Italic *folgos, from the same root as fulgeō (“to flash, lighten”).^[1][12] Devoto traces it to a zero grade of Proto-Indo-European *bʰleg- (“to shine”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form fulgore in Guido Faba's Bolognese Parlamenti, before 1243, which says that Lent assails the world “like lightning and storm”.^[2][14][9] The form folgore first appears in Bono Giamboni, before 1292, who explains the bolt as vapours set alight by the wind: e questa è la folgore, che le genti dicono.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for the lightning bolt and in comparisons for blinding light, speed and destructive force, and figuratively for a warrior of great violence on the battlefield.^[14] The last use lives on in the phrase folgore di guerra.^[3][6][15] Tommaseo already observed that people said fulmine for a bolt heard, and folgore rather for the flash seen.^[16]

The word was masculine as well as feminine in the old language, and Old Italian had the plural fòlgora.^[4][6] Its family includes folgorare (about 1304), which since 1965 also means “to electrocute”, and folgorazione (1739), electrocution from 1917 and a sudden revelation in D'Annunzio and Croce.^[2]

Timeline

• Before 1243 – Guido Faba uses fulgore.^[2][14]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses folgore.^[2]
• c. 1304 – Folgorare “to flash with lightning” appears in a vernacular Plutarch.^[2]
• 1554 – Bandello uses folgorante.^[2]
• 1739 – Antonio Conti uses folgorazione.^[2]
• 1917 – Folgorazione is recorded for electrocution.^[2]
• 1965 – Folgorare is recorded for “to electrocute”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thunderbolt, flash of lightning that strikes the ground: La folgore colpì la quercia.^[3][4][8]
2. (figurative) A person who acts with great speed or destructive force, as in folgore di guerra.^[3][6][17]
3. (literary, masculine) Splendour, brightness.^[3][6][7]

Word family

• folgorante
• folgorare
• folgorazione
• sfolgorare
• sfolgorante
• sfolgorio
• folgoreggiare
• folgorite

Related words

• fulmine
• fulgore
• Latin fulgur
• French foudre

Usage notes

Old texts also have folgóre (masculine, stressed on the second syllable), an obsolete variant of fulgore “splendour”, as in Dante's nel folgór chiaro che di lei uscia, where other manuscripts read fulgor.^[3][15][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 109
10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1677
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
15. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana