innamorare

Forms

innamorare (first-person singular present innamóro, first-person singular past historic innamorài, past participle innamoràto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Older forms are Old Italian inamorare, Old Italian innamurare, Old Italian inamurare and Old Italian ennamorare.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Italian in- + amore + -are, the prefix meaning “into”.^[4][5][6][1] Devoto explains the double ⟨nn⟩ by analogy with a(d)- in Old Tuscan.^[7] The noun comes from Latin amor, from amō (“to love”).^[6]

Parallel verbs are Old Occitan enamorar and Catalan enamorar, Spanish enamorar and Portuguese enamorar, and French énamourer.^[8][2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates the reflexive innamorarsi, “to fall in love”, and innamoramento to the 12th century, in Rinaldo d'Aquino.^[4][5] GRADIT also gives the 12th century.^[4][5] Nocentini dates the verb to about 1230–1250.^[6] The transitive sense “to make someone love” is in Odo delle Colonne: àm'inamorata / di sé oltre misura, “he has made me fall in love with him beyond measure”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Dante used the verb for divine love: God breathes life into the soul and la innamora / di sé, “fills it with love of Himself”.^[9][3] Petrarch, in 1374, extended it to anything that gives great pleasure, and Gentile Sermini, in the 15th century, to charming or captivating.^[4] Old Italian also used innamorare intransitively, and innamorarsi in or con someone, where the modern construction is innamorarsi di.^[3][10] The reciprocal innamorarsi “to fall in love with each other” is in Boccaccio, 1348–1353.^[4]

The participle innamorato “in love” is recorded before 1237, and as a noun, “lover”, in the 13th century.^[4] Through the commedia dell'arte innamorato passed unchanged into German.^[8] English borrowed the verb as enamorate (1591) and inamorate (1624), both now obsolete.^[11]

Timeline

• 12th century – Rinaldo d'Aquino uses innamorarsi and innamoramento.^[4]
• 13th century – Odo delle Colonne uses the transitive verb.^[4][2]
• Before 1237 – Innamorato is recorded in Re Giovanni.^[4]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses the reciprocal innamorarsi.^[4]
• 1374 – Petrarch uses the verb for giving delight.^[4]
• Before 1389 – Francesco di Vannozzo has enamorar “to become keen on something”.^[4]
• 1591 – English enamorate is recorded.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary) To make someone fall in love, inspire love: la sua voce lo innamorò.^{[5][12][10][1]}
2. To charm, enchant, captivate; often without an object: un borgo che innamora.^{[5][12][13][1]}
3. (reflexive) innamorarsi: to fall in love with someone: si innamorò della vicina di casa.^[12][13][10]
4. (reflexive) innamorarsi: to become enthusiastic about something: innamorarsi del jazz.^[12][13][14]
5. (reciprocal) innamorarsi: to fall in love with each other.^[12][10][14]

Word family

• innamoramento
• innamorato
• disinnamorare
• innamoracchiarsi
• rinnamorare

Related words

• amore
• amare
• Spanish enamorar

Usage notes

Far innamorare is the usual way to say “make someone fall in love”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2037
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
12. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c 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