inghiottire

Forms

inghiottire (first-person singular present (in the literal meaning) inghiottìsco or (figuratively) inghiótto, first-person singular past historic inghiottìi, past participle inghiottìto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin ingluttīre, recorded by Isidore of Seville in the 6th or 7th century, formed from the intensive or locative prefix in- and gluttīre (“to swallow”), a word Juvenal uses.^[2][3][4][5] Cortelazzo and Zolli and Zingarelli call the simple verb expressive in origin;^[2][6][7] DEI connects it with gluttus (“greedy”), the source of ghiotto.^[2][6][7] Devoto links it, through a lost form, with gula (“throat”).^[8]

The same Late Latin verb gave French engloutir, Occitan englotir, Catalan englutir, Sardinian ingiuttire and Romanian înghiți.^[3][9] The learned deglutire goes back to the same Latin family.^[2][1] De Vaan doubts the old derivation of gula from an Indo-European word for the throat and suggests that sound-imitating roots like ⟨gul-⟩ and ⟨glu-⟩ arose more than once.^[10][1]

The Latin cluster ⟨gl⟩ became ⟨ghi⟩ /ɡj/, as in the adjective, and ⟨u⟩ became ⟨o⟩.^[1][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is figurative: Bono Giamboni, before 1292, uses the verb for “to swallow up, to make sink”.^[2] The literal sense follows in Iacopone da Todi, who died in 1306, with the form enghiuttire: Non lo posso enghiuttire (“I cannot swallow it”), of hard black bread.^[2][5] Dante has inghiottire in the Purgatorio (1313–1319): ove convenne ch'io l'acqua inghiottissi (“where I had to swallow the water”).^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian had many forms of the verb: enghiottire, enghiuttire, ingiotire, ingiottire, inghiotire and iniottire.^[5] Beside the literal and the “swallow up” senses, Domenico Cavalca, before 1342, used it for “to bear, to put up with”.^[2] The derivative inghiottimento meant “abyss” in Old Italian, and inghiottitoio first meant the gullet, in a text of 1329.^[11][2]

In geography inghiottitoio is now the sinkhole where water drains away in a karst basin;^[2][3] Cortelazzo and Zolli see this sense as a calque on Venetian ingiotidór, recorded in 1881 for the swallow holes of the Cansiglio plateau.^[2][3] The figurative uses have grown: the sea or fog that “swallows” people, a bad investment that “swallows” a fortune, and the idiom inghiottire il rospo “to swallow the toad”, to accept something unpleasant in silence.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 6th–7th century – Isidore of Seville records Late Latin ingluttire.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses the verb for “to swallow up”.^[2]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses enghiuttire for “to swallow”.^[2]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses inghiottire in the Purgatorio.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for “to bear, tolerate”.^[2]
• 1329 – Inghiottitoio “gullet” appears in a text of Dino Dini.^[2]
• 1881 – Venetian ingiotidori “swallow holes” is recorded, the model of inghiottitoio in geography.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To swallow, to pass food or drink from the mouth into the oesophagus; also used without an object: faccio fatica a inghiottire.^[12][14][13]
2. To swallow something by accident: il cane ha inghiottito una moneta.^[12][14][15]
3. (figurative) To hold back, to suppress tears, anger or the like.^[12][14]
4. (figurative) To put up with, to endure something unpleasant without reacting: inghiottire un'umiliazione.^[12][14][15]
5. (figurative) To swallow up, to engulf, to make disappear from sight: la barca fu inghiottita dal mare.^[12][14][6]
6. (figurative) To consume, to use up money or resources.^[12][14][13]

Word family

• inghiottitoio
• inghiottimento
• inghiottitore
• ringhiottire

Related words

• ghiotto
• deglutire
• ingoiare
• Latin gluttiō
• French engloutir

Usage notes

The present has two patterns: inghiotto, inghiotti and inghiottisco, inghiottisci; the Treccani dictionary finds inghiottisco commoner in the literal sense, and Wiktionary keeps inghiotto for the figurative ones.^[13][1][14] Inghiottire is the everyday word;^[13][6] deglutire is the technical term, ingollare is to gulp food down greedily, and trangugiare is used mostly of solid food.^[13][6] The set phrases include inghiottire amaro and inghiottire amaro e sputare dolce, to hide one's resentment behind kind words.^[12]

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 o p q r 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
5. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2028
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 235
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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 Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
12. ^ 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
13. ^ 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)
14. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse