Etymologically
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innamorato

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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