nevicare

Forms

nevicare (third-person only, third-person singular present névica, third-person singular past historic nevicò, past participle nevicàto, auxiliary (all uses) èssere or (also impersonal) avére)^[1] The older and regional form is nevigare;^[2][3][4] Tommaseo notes it from dialects other than Tuscan.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *nivicāre, formed from Latin nix (“snow”).^[5][1][6] Most dictionaries describe the Vulgar Latin verb as a frequentative or intensive of a rare Latin verb for “to snow” built on the noun, of which Latin glosses record nivit (“it snows”); classical Latin used ninguit instead.^{[6][2][7][8][9][4]} Devoto sees the influence of Italian neve in the vowel, and Wiktionary also analyses the word as from Italian neve + -icare.^[10][1]

The same formation is Sicilian nivicari.^[1] Devoto compares other verbs for snowing from the same root, such as German schneien.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Boccaccio, in 1348–1353, for snow falling: nevicando tuttavia forte, “while it was still snowing hard”.^[11][6][4]

Semantic evolution

Petrarch used the verb personally, of Jupiter: il qual or tona, or nevica ed or piove, “who now thunders, now snows and now rains”.^[6][2] In Pascoli it describes other things falling like snow: yellow flour that “snowed down evenly” (nevicava uguale).^[6][12]

The past tenses take essere or avere;^[7][4] Tommaseo preferred essere.^[7][4] Tuscan proverbs include non nevica e non diaccia che il sol non la disfaccia, “it never snows or freezes but the sun undoes it”, meaning that every trouble has a remedy.^[4][8] The joking nevicare in testa means to go grey.^[7][13]

In northern Italy (Trentino, Lombardy, Piedmont, western Emilia), and again in Lazio and around Naples, dialects say fioccare;^[9] Umbria, the Marche and the Abruzzi keep a verb from Latin ninguit.^[9]

Timeline

• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses nevicare.^[11][6]
• 14th century – Nevicamento is recorded.^[9]
• 1803 – D'Alberti records nevicata, “snowfall”.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (impersonal) To snow: Stanotte è nevicato in collina.^[6][2][12]
2. (impersonal, figurative, humorous) Of hair, to turn grey.^[6][2]
3. (literary) To send down snow.^[6][2]
4. (literary) To fall slowly and silently, like snow.^[6][12][3]
5. (transitive, rare) To scatter lightly.^[6][3]

Word family

• nevicata
• nevicato
• nevicamento
• rinevicare

Related words

• innevare
• innevato
• nevaio
• nevare
• neve
• neviera
• nevischio
• nevoso
• Latin nix

Usage notes

In the compound tenses nevicare takes essere or avere (è nevicato, ha nevicato).^[7][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
4. ^ a b c d e f g Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
9. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2581
10. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli