grandinare

Forms

grandinare (first-person singular present gràndino, first-person singular past historic grandinài, past participle grandinàto, auxiliary (intransitive or impersonal) èssere or (transitive or impersonal) avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin grandināre (“it hails”), a verb formed from grandō (“hail”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The Latin verb also survives in Romanian grindina and Sardinian randinare.^[6][1]

De Vaan reconstructs the noun as Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₃-d-ōn “hail”, with cognates in Slavic, Armenian and perhaps Indo-Iranian.^[5] Latin would have turned an oblique stem with ⟨-dn-⟩ into ⟨-nd-⟩, and the forms of the paradigm were then levelled.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Boccaccio's Decameron (1348–1353), in the impersonal sense “to hail”: two lovers embrace grandinando tuttavia, “while it went on hailing”.^[2][4][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “to fall thickly and violently like hail” is recorded from 1659, in Emanuele Tesauro.^[2] Tasso used the verb transitively for hurling stones: I difensori a grandinar le pietre / Dall'alte mura … incominciâro “the defenders began to hail down stones from the high walls”.^[8][9] Segneri used it for clouds that strike meadows and gardens with hail, a sense now archaic.^[8][9]

Tommaseo records the saying non ci piove né ci grandina sopra for a gain or income that is safe.^[8][9] Today the verb is common in its literal sense and in figurative uses for bullets, insults or criticism that rain down.^[4][10]

Timeline

• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses the verb in the Decameron.^[2][4]
• 1659 – Emanuele Tesauro uses it figuratively.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (impersonal) To hail: for hail to fall (auxiliary essere or avere): Ieri sera è grandinato sulle colline.^{[4][11][10][1]}
2. (figurative, intransitive) To fall thickly and violently, like hail: Sul palco grandinarono uova e pomodori.^{[4][11][10][9]}
3. (figurative) Of criticism or penalties, to come one after another in great number.^[4][11]
4. (transitive, archaic) To strike with hail.^[4][9][12]
5. (transitive, figurative, literary) To hurl in great quantity and with force.^[4][10][9]

Word family

• grandinata
• grandinio
• grandinato
• rigrandinare

Related words

• grandine
• Latin grandō

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c 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. ^ Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
8. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli