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innamorato

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word innamorato

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
before 1237, Re Giovanni
Ultimate origin
Latin amor
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin amo
French aimer
Italian amare
Latin amor
French amour
Italian amore
Italian innamorato
From the same root
English amateur ← amo
Latin adamo ← amo
Latin amabilis ← amo
Latin amator ← amo
Latin amicus ← amo

Pronunciation

  • /in.na.moˈra.to/[1]

Forms

innamorato (feminine innamorata, masculine plural innamorati, feminine plural innamorate, superlative innamoratissimo)[1] Old forms include Old Italian inamorato, Old Italian ennamorato, Old Italian enamorato and Sicilian inamuratu.[2]

Etymology

It is the past participle of innamorare (“to make someone fall in love”), used as an adjective and as a noun.[3][4][5][6][1] The verb is recorded from about 1230–1250 and is formed in Italian: from Italian in- + amore (“love”) + -are.[4][5][1] DELI describes the prefix as the illative one, of motion “into”.[3] The same formation is French énamourer, Catalan enamorar, Spanish enamorar and Portuguese enamorar, and Wiktionary compares the noun Portuguese namorado (“boyfriend”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a poem of Re Giovanni, written before 1237: “ch'io sono più 'namorato / che null'altro omo che sia” (“for I am more in love than any other man”).[3][2][7] The noun innamorato “one who loves someone” follows in an anonymous text of the 13th century.[3]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to the love poetry of the Sicilian school and its Tuscan followers: Rinaldo d'Aquino and Stefano Protonotaro (in the Sicilian form inamuratu) have it, and in Purgatorio 29 Dante writes “cantando come donna innamorata”, “singing like a woman in love”.[2] Tommaseo's dictionary of 1869 records the noun for the person who is loved, and quotes uses for the love of God and of learning.[3][8]

In the theatre the innamorati were the serious lovers of the Commedia dell'Arte, played without a mask.[9][6] English took the word as inamorato in 1592 and the feminine inamorata in 1651, and German had Innamorato in 1839.[7] Intensive phrases are innamorato cotto, innamorato pazzo and innamorato perso, all meaning “madly in love”.[6][10][11]

Timeline

  • Before 1237 – Re Giovanni uses innamorato “in love”.[3][7]
  • 13th century – The noun “lover” is recorded.[3]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante writes of a singer “come donna innamorata”.[2]
  • 1592 – English borrows the word as inamorato.[7]
  • 1651 – English inamorata is recorded.[7]
  • 1839 – German Innamorato is recorded.[7]
  • 1869 – Tommaseo records the noun for “the beloved”.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. In love (with di for the person): Si è innamorato di una collega e non sa come dirglielo.[5][6][9]
  2. Very fond of something, passionate about it: È innamorata del suo vecchio quartiere.[5][6][9][10]
  3. (literary) Showing or inspiring love, Leopardi's “sguardi innamorati e schivi” are glances full of love and shy.[5][9][10]

Noun

  1. A lover, a person in love: Sul ponte c'erano due innamorati che guardavano il fiume.[5][6][10]
  2. (popular) A boyfriend or suitor; the feminine innamorata is a girlfriend.[5][6][11]
  3. (theatre) One of the serious lovers of the Commedia dell'Arte, also called amoroso.[5][6][9]

Word family

  • innamoratamente
  • innamorare
  • innamoramento
  • amore
  • amoroso
  • Latin amor

Usage notes

Fare l'innamorato means “to pretend to be in love”.[12] Essere innamorato di sé is to be full of oneself.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  9. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  10. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  11. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
Cite this entry

“Innamorato.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/innamorato. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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