profumo

Forms

profumo m (plural profumi)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian fumo (“smoke”), but the way it was formed is not fully clear.^[2][3][4] Treccani's Vocabolario thinks the word first meant fumigation with fragrant substances.^[5]

Devoto derived it from Vulgar Latin *perfūmus, a noun from the verb *perfūmō, formed on Latin fūmus (“smoke”) with the intensive prefix per- and meaning “to smoke well”.^[6][2] The prefix was later remade as pro-.^[6][2] Nocentini and Devoto–Oli give the same account.^[7][8] Oudin's dictionary still has perfumo, perfumare and perfumiere beside the forms in ⟨pro-⟩.^[9]

Battisti and Alessio, as DELI quotes them, saw in the oldest form Old Italian profumico (Piero da Reggio, perhaps 14th century) a Tuscan reshaping of a northern derivative of Latin fūmigō (“to smoke”).^[2] They compared Venetian profumegàr (“to perfume”) and profùmego (“perfume”), and the model of suffūmigō beside suffūmō, which is used by Jerome.^[2] Zingarelli and Gabrielli instead take the noun from the verb profumare, which DELI records only from before 1519.^[10][11][2]

In the sense “natural fragrance” the word follows French parfum, which has that sense from 1528.^[2] The Latin noun fūmus goes back to Proto-Italic *fūmos and Proto-Indo-European *dʰuh₂mós.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Florentine version of the Legenda aurea, from the second half of the 14th century, where the word means “a pleasant smell”.^[12] DELI dates it from Luigi Pulci (1461–1483), for a solution of fragrant essences.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo's 19th-century dictionary still defined the word first as anything burnt or boiled for the smell of its smoke, for pleasure or as medicine, and then as any substance that gives a good smell.^[13] The sense “natural fragrance”, as of flowers, is recorded from 1825 and was taken from French.^[2] In 1871 Tommaseo's dictionary objected that Il profumo de' fiori ci viene di Francia (“the perfume of flowers comes to us from France”), and recommended fragranza or soave odore.^[2]

The figurative sense “subtle, delicate feeling” appears in Giuseppe Mazzini (before 1872).^[2] Older Italian also used the word for flattery, a sense now obsolete.^[10][11] Ironically, profumo can mean a bad smell.^[3][14]

The trade grew its own words early: profumiere, a maker or seller of perfumes, is recorded in 1542, and profumeria, the workshop or shop, in 1550.^[2] Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger used profumino for a dandy.^[9]

Timeline

• 1350–1400 – The Florentine version of the Legenda aurea uses profumo for a pleasant smell.^[12]
• 1461–1483 – Luigi Pulci uses it for a solution of fragrant essences.^[2]
• 1508 – Ludovico Ariosto has the reflexive verb profumarsi.^[2]
• 1542 – Profumiere is recorded.^[2]
• 1550 – Profumeria is recorded, for the perfumer's shop.^[2]
• 1825 – The sense “natural fragrance” appears, after French.^[2]
• Before 1872 – Giuseppe Mazzini uses the word figuratively.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A perfume: a solid or liquid essence, natural or synthetic, that gives a pleasant smell; also a mixture of such essences.^[3][8][10]
2. A pleasant scent given off by natural or artificial substances, such as flowers.^[3][8][14]
3. (ironic) A bad smell, a stink.^[3][8][4]
4. An appetizing smell of food just cooked; the aroma of a wine.^[3][8][5]
5. (figurative) A faint, pleasant impression; the evocative character of something: Quella vecchia casa ha un profumo d'altri tempi.^[3][8][14]
6. (literary, figurative) A hint or suspicion.^[3]
7. (figurative, obsolete) Flattery.^[3][10][11]

Word family

• profumare
• profumatamente
• profumato
• profumeria
• profumiera
• profumiere
• profumiero
• profumista

Related words

• fumo
• fumigare
• French parfum
• Latin fumus

Usage notes

Zingarelli distinguishes profumo, any pleasant smell given off by a substance, from fragranza, a more elevated word for an intense and delicate smell, and aroma, used mostly of food.^[10] The diminutive is profumino.^[10][4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 805
10. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
12. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse