intingere

Forms

intingere (first-person singular present intìngo, first-person singular past historic intìnsi, past participle intìnto, auxiliary avére)^[1] The old form is intignere.^[2][3][4] The GDLI also records Old Italian integnere and Old Italian entegnere.^[5]

Etymology

It is a learned word: it is borrowed from Latin intingere (“to dip in”), formed in- (“in”) and tingō (“to wet, dye”).^[6][7][8][1] Meyer-Lübke lists outcomes of the Latin verb in Romanian întinge and Old Occitan entenher, and the GDLI compares Old French enteindre.^[9][5]

The simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *tengō and Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to make wet”), the source also of Ancient Greek τέγγω (téngō, “to make wet”) and Old High German thunkōn (“to dip”).^[10][1] The Latin compound is recorded from Plautus.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from Ugurgieri, in the 14th century, in the sense “to dip lightly into a liquid”.^[6][5] Zingarelli dates the word before 1311.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Old translations of the life of Christ and of Gregory the Great used it of the betrayer who dips his hand in the dish, and of the rich man who begs Lazarus to dip his fingertip in water.^[12][5] Lorenzo Magalotti (before 1712) used it intransitively, “to draw from”, of taking snuff from a box.^[6][12] In Tuscan it came to mean “to have a share” in a profit: intingere in un affare.^[12][4] Intingere la penna nel fiele (to dip one's pen in gall) means to write with venom.^[12][11][4]

The derivative intingolo, a sauce or a dish with plenty of gravy, is recorded from Cellini (before 1571).^[6] In popular Tuscan intinto means soaked through, of a person caught in the rain.^[4] In slang the verb is also a sexual metaphor.^[2][4]

Timeline

• Before 1311 – Zingarelli's first date for intingere.^[11]
• 14th century – Ugurgieri uses the verb for dipping in water.^[6][5]
• Before 1571 – Intingolo “sauce” is recorded in Cellini.^[6]
• Before 1712 – Lorenzo Magalotti uses it intransitively, “to draw from”.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To dip lightly into a liquid: Intinse il biscotto nel tè.^[8][2][11]
2. (transitive, figurative) intingere la penna nel fiele: to write with venom or spite.^[2][11][13]
3. (transitive, uncommon) To put in, insert: intingere la mano nella borsa.^[4][1]
4. (intransitive, Tuscan) To draw from a dish or container: Intingevano tutti nella stessa pentola.^[8][3][13]
5. (intransitive, figurative) intingere in or a: to have a share in a profit or affair.^[8][2][13]
6. (slang) Of a man, to have sex.^[2][4][1]
7. (obsolete) To dye.^[8][3][11]

Word family

• intingolo
• intinto
• rintingere

Related words

• tingere
• attingere
• Latin tingō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ a b c d e 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 f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b 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 d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana