fumigare

Forms

fumigare (first-person singular present fùmigo, first-person singular past historic fumigài, past participle fumigàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The Tuscan form is fumicare.^[2][3][1] Old Italian had fumicare, Sicilian fumicari and northern fumegadho beside fumigare.^[4]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin fūmigō (“to smoke, fumigate”), derived from fūmus (“smoke”).^[5][2][6][7] The GDLI compares French fumiger, a 14th-century medical word; the DEI adds French fumigation from 1314.^[6][8]

In the Tuscan fumicare the /ɡ/ became /k/ by analogy with the suffix -icare, a Tuscan hypercorrection of a supposed northern voicing.^[3] De Vaan derives the Latin noun from Proto-Indo-European *dʰuh₂-mó- (“smoke”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Lancia's Florentine translation of the Aeneid of 1316, for giving off smoke from heat or burning.^[4][7] DELI's first date is the 14th-century Ottimo commento to Dante, which says of a stream that it smokes.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the verb also meant to give off a visible vapour, and in medicine to expose something to the smoke of a substance so that it took on its healing properties (far fumigare), or to take a remedy as smoke.^[4] Bracciolini's line al fumigar del tetto (“at the smoking of the roof”) shows the poetic use.^[11]

From the 19th century chemists used it for disinfecting with fumes.^[11][8] The present participle fumigante became a noun in industrial chemistry, for substances that kill insects or rodents as vapour.^[12]

Timeline

• 1316 – Lancia's translation of the Aeneid uses fumigare.^[4]
• 14th century – The Ottimo commento uses the verb.^[10]
• 19th century – Fumigazione is used in chemistry.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To give off smoke or vapour: La candela fumigava sul tavolo.^[5][2][3][1]
2. (transitive, archaic) To smoke; to fumigate.^[5][3][1]
3. (transitive) To perfume.^[5]

Word family

• fumigazione
• fumigatore
• fumigatorio
• fumigante

Related words

• suffumicare
• fumo
• fumicare
• affumicare
• Latin fumigo

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 449
7. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1733
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b 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 Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)