infuocare

Forms

infuocare (first-person singular present infuòco, first-person singular past historic infuocài, past participle infuocàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

DELI, Nocentini, Devoto–Oli and Zingarelli take it as formed in Italian: it is from Italian in- + fuoco + -are, with the prefix in the sense “into”.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} A Late Latin īnfocō does occur, in the Latin translation of Oribasius in the 6th century, and GRADIT and Wiktionary derive the Italian verb from it.^[2][7][1] Körting set up the verb with Romanian înfoca and Old Spanish enfogar.^[8]

The diphthong ⟨uo⟩ comes from the stressed vowel of the noun, which comes from Latin focus (“hearth”).^[5][1] The origin of focus is uncertain.^[9][1] De Vaan rejects a link with fax (“torch”), and finds Hamp's derivation from a root meaning “to burn” chronologically difficult.^[10] Matasović derives it from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The participle infocato “inflamed, red-hot” is in Giordano da Pisa in 1303–1306.^[2] The verb infocare itself is first recorded in Domenico Cavalca before 1342, in the figurative sense “to become inflamed”.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to burn, set on fire” is in Matteo Villani before 1363, and “to heat until red-hot” in Federico Frezzi before 1416.^[2] The pronominal infocarsi “to become red-hot” is recorded in Bandello before 1561, and the participle in the sense “burning with anger or passion” in Pietro Fortini before 1562.^[2] The sense “to set on fire” is now archaic.^[5][4][11]

From the colour of glowing metal the verb came to mean “to make red as fire”, of anger reddening a face or sunset reddening the sky.^[7][12] Today the participle infuocato is used widely as an adjective: palle infuocate were cannon balls loaded red-hot, and tirare a palle infuocate means to attack someone fiercely in a dispute.^[12]

Timeline

• 1303–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses infocato “red-hot, inflamed”.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses infocare figuratively.^[2][7]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses infocare “to burn”.^[2]
• Before 1416 – Federico Frezzi uses it for heating metal red-hot.^[2]
• Before 1561 – Bandello uses infocarsi “to become red-hot”.^[2]
• Before 1562 – Pietro Fortini uses infocato “burning with anger or passion”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make red-hot, to heat until glowing: infuocare una sbarra di ferro.^[7][4][5][1]
2. (by extension) To make red as fire: of anger, heat or the sunset.^[7][4][6]
3. (figurative) To excite, to inflame minds or passions.^[7][4][6][1]
4. (archaic) To set on fire, to burn.^[7][4][11]
5. (pronominal, infuocarsi) To become red-hot, to turn red.^[4][6] (figurative) To grow heated in a discussion, or to be inflamed with a passion such as anger or love.^[4][6][12]

Word family

• infuocato
• infuocamento
• rinfocare

Related words

• fuoco
• Latin focus

Usage notes

Infocare is an equally standard form: the o tends to become uo when stressed (infuòco), while unstressed o is the more popular choice (infocato).^[5][11][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 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 c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)