fremito

Forms

fremito m (plural fremiti)^[1] The old and dialect form is Old Italian friemito.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin fremitus (“roar, rumble”), a noun from fremō (“to roar, to murmur”).^{[4][5][6][7][8]} The Latin word survived as an inherited word in Romanian freamăt and Old French friente.^[9][10][11]

De Vaan traces the Latin verb to Proto-Italic *freme/o- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰrem- (“to hum, to rumble”), with cognates such as Welsh brefu (“to bleat, to roar”), Middle High German brimmen (“to roar”) and Polish brzmieć (“to sound”).^[12] He adds that the shape of the root is not completely certain.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Pisan Bestiario d'Amore of the early 14th century, where the word is said of an animal that shows restlessness or aggression by shaking its body or by inarticulate sounds.^[2] DELI gives Guido da Pisa, early in the same century, for a sudden agitation or shiver caused by strong feeling.^[4] Guido writes of a council: “Per tutto lo consiglio si cominciò uno grande fremito ed uno grande bisbigliare” (“through the whole council a great murmur and a great whispering began”).^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word for many sounds and movements: a person's restrained emotion, the grinding of teeth, the rumbling of a crowd or an army, the note of a plucked string and the roar of falling water.^[2] Boccaccio uses it for the neighing of horses: “i cavalli... diedero fortissimo fremito”.^[13][14] Tasso has “Fremiti di furor, mormorii d'ira”, and Manzoni describes a murmur of opposition among the crowd.^[3]

In the 20th century D'Annunzio used it for the throb of an engine.^[6] Medicine took it for a vibration felt by touch over the chest, the heart or a large vessel, as in fremito vocale tattile.^[6][15][14] The everyday sense is now the thrill of a strong feeling.^[6][7]

Timeline

• Early 14th century – The Bestiario d'Amore uses fremito of an animal.^[2]
• Early 14th century – Guido da Pisa uses it of human agitation.^[4]
• 1342 – Zingarelli dates the word.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sudden shudder or frisson caused by a strong feeling, and the trembling that shows it: un fremito di gioia.^{[6][15][16][7][1]}
2. The murmur of a crowd in agitation.^[6][16][17]
3. (literary) A dull, continuous noise, as of the sea or of trees in the wind, the roar of a wild animal or the throb of an engine.^[6][15][7]
4. (medicine) A thrill felt by touch over a part of the body, caused by a vibration inside it: fremito vocale tattile.^{[6][15][16][17]}

Related words

• fremere
• Latin fremitus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1713
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b c d 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 c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana