profumare

Forms

profumare (first-person singular present profùmo, first-person singular past historic profumài, past participle profumàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

Most dictionaries explain it as a verb formed from Italian profumo (“perfume”) + -are.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The noun is recorded somewhat earlier, from the second half of the 15th century, and DELI calls the way it was formed from fumo not entirely clear.^[7][8] Zingarelli takes the verb instead as pro-, a variant of per-, with fumare (“to give off vapours or scents”).^[9]

Nocentini traces it to Vulgar Latin *perfumāre (“to give off a smell”), formed on fūmus (“smoke; smell”) with per-, whose prefix was later drawn to the Italian one; the Italian verb would be an adaptation of a northern form, which first referred to food cooking over the fire.^[7] Devoto likewise derives the noun from a Vulgar Latin *perfūmus, from the verb.^[8][10] Battisti and Alessio see a Tuscan reshaping of a northern derivative of fūmigō (“to smoke”), like Venetian profumegar (“to perfume”) and profumego (“perfume”), pointing to the old form Old Italian profumico found in Maestro Piero da Reggio.^[11][8]

The same verb is Occitan perfumar, Catalan perfumar, Spanish perfumar and Portuguese perfumar, from which comes French parfumer.^[7] The English word perfume came through French.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb first appears in Ludovico Ariosto in 1508, reflexive, “to put perfume on one's skin, hair or clothes”.^[8][11][2] The transitive sense “to give scent to something” follows before 1519 in Leonardo da Vinci, who advises: profuma prima la sala con ispesso fumo d'incenso (“first perfume the room with thick smoke of incense”).^[8][12]

Semantic evolution

The early sense was close to fumo: perfuming meant burning resins or incense in a room, and old medicine used the verb for fumigating with healing or disinfecting vapours.^[12] Battisti and Alessio date the sense “to fumigate with disinfectants” to 1871.^[11] Old variants were prefumare and proffumare, and a form perfumare is recorded in Oudin in the 17th century.^[12][11]

The intransitive sense “to give off a pleasant smell” is recorded in the fourth Crusca dictionary of 1733, and it is now the most frequent use, often with di for the smell.^[8][3]

Timeline

• 1508 – Ariosto uses the reflexive profumarsi.^[8][11]
• Before 1519 – Leonardo da Vinci uses profumare “to scent (a room)”.^[8]
• 1542 – French perfumer (later parfumer) is recorded.^[11]
• Before 1544 – Profumeria is first recorded.^[7]
• 17th century – Oudin records the variant perfumare.^[11]
• 1733 – The intransitive sense “to smell sweet” appears in the Crusca dictionary.^[8]
• 1871 – The sense “to fumigate with disinfectants” is recorded.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To perfume or scent: to make something smell pleasant by spraying it with perfume or burning something fragrant in it: Prima della cena ha profumato il salotto con l'incenso.^[2][3][1]
2. (intransitive) To smell sweet, to give off a pleasant fragrance; with di, to smell of something: Le lenzuola profumano di sole.^[2][3][4][1]
3. (reflexive, profumarsi) To put perfume on oneself or on a part of one's body.^[3][4][9]
4. (obsolete) To fumigate with medicinal or disinfecting vapours.^[12][11]

Word family

• profumato
• profumo
• profumeria
• profumiere
• profumiero
• profumazione
• profumatore
• profumamento
• profumatoio
• riprofumare

Related words

• fumo
• fumare
• French parfumer

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3097
12. ^ 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, p. 14, 541