fumo

Forms

fumo m (plural fumi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fūmus (“smoke”), from Proto-Italic *fūmos.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The word is pan-Romance: Old French fum (modern French fumée), Occitan fum, Catalan fum, Spanish humo, Portuguese fumo, Sardinian fumu and Romanian fum.^[3][6][7]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰuh₂mós (“smoke”), and is cognate with Sanskrit धूम (dhūmá, “smoke”), Lithuanian dūmai (“smoke”), Old Church Slavonic дꙑмъ (dymŭ) and Old High German toum (“steam”).^[5][3][1] In Ancient Greek θυμός (thūmós) the meaning shifted to “spirit, life force”.^[3][5][8] De Vaan notes that the long vowel of the Latin word is unexpected, and Schrijver explained it by analogy.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the word to the first half of the 13th century, and the TLIO's first record is the Cremonese poet Ugo di Perso.^[3][9] DELI's first record is Bono Giamboni, before 1292, in the sense “the gases of a combustion carrying solid particles”;^[2][10] Giamboni tells of a fire whose fummo made all the country stink.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Figurative senses came early: “empty appearance” in Giordano da Pisa (1303–06) and “pride, vanity” in Lorenzo de' Medici (1491).^[2] Old medicine held that vapours rose from the stomach to the brain, and fumo named them from the early 14th century; the modern i fumi dell'alcol still uses the plural so.^[2][9][4] The phrase vendere fumo, to deceive with empty promises, goes back to Latin fumum vendere in Martial.^[2]

The smoke of tobacco is recorded from Ramusio in 1565, and the verb fumare “to smoke tobacco” from 1699.^[2] The derivative fumetto first named the speech balloon of a cartoon (1942) and then the comic strip itself.^[2] The papal fumata is recorded in the 19th century.^[2] In youth slang fumo is hashish.^[4][10][1]

Timeline

• First half of the 13th century – The word is first recorded.^[3]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses fummo.^[2]
• 1303–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for empty appearance.^[2]
• 1491 – Lorenzo de' Medici uses it for vanity.^[2]
• 1565 – Ramusio uses it for tobacco smoke.^[2]
• 1942 – Fumetto is recorded for a speech balloon.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. smoke, the gases of a burning substance with particles suspended in them: Dal camino usciva un fumo nero.^[4][11][12]
2. Tobacco smoke, and the habit of smoking: Ha smesso con il fumo da un anno.^[4][11][12]
3. Steam or vapour: il fumo della minestra.^[4][11][12]
4. (figurative) Empty appearance, something without substance: Le sue promesse sono solo fumo.^[4][12][13]
5. (figurative, chiefly plural) A clouding of the mind: i fumi del vino.^[4][13][12]
6. (slang) hashish, or another drug that is smoked.^[4][12][1]

Adjective

1. (invariable) Dark grey, smoke-coloured: una giacca grigio fumo.^[4][13]

Word family

• fumaiolo
• fumante
• fumare
• fumarola
• fumata
• fumatore
• fumeria
• fumettista
• fumido
• fumigare
• fumigazione
• fumista
• fumisteria
• fumetto
• affumicare
• sfumare
• fumoso

Related words

• profumo
• Latin fūmus
• French fumée

Usage notes

Set phrases include andare in fumo (to come to nothing), vedere come il fumo negli occhi (to loathe), molto fumo e poco arrosto (all show and no substance) and fumo passivo (passive smoking).^[4][12][14] The older and popular form fummo is still recorded.^[11][14][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 193
9. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana