scintillare

Forms

scintillare (first-person singular present scintìllo, first-person singular past historic scintillài, past participle scintillàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include scentillare, sentillare and sintillare.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin scintillō (“to send out sparks, glitter”), derived from scintilla (“spark”).^{[4][5][6][1][7]} According to Rohlfs, quoted by DELI, the Italian word for “spark” is a literary word that was never popular in Tuscany, where people say favilla.^[4]

The Latin verb also gave Romanian scânteia, Old French estenceller, French étinceler, Old Occitan sintillar and Spanish centellar, from which Portuguese centelhar was borrowed.^[8][9] Nocentini explains French étincelle (“spark”) from a form with metathesis, Vulgar Latin *stincilla.^[5]

The origin of the Latin noun is unclear.^[7] Nocentini compares Ancient Greek σπινθήρ (spinthḗr, “spark”) and Lithuanian spindėti (“to shine”).^[5] De Vaan reports Pokorny's link with Proto-Indo-European *skī- (“to shine”), but finds the stem ⟨scint-⟩ unexplained.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo (1282), on the twinkling of the stars: a star, he argues, should have fixed rays and not twinkle, yet we see the stars twinkle, so we must look for the cause.^[2][3] The TLIO places this record under the sense “to shine with a bright, intermittent light”, while DELI dates the sense “to give off sparks” to the same year and author.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Dante, before 1321, has lights that move scintillando forte (“sparkling strongly”) as they meet and pass.^[4][10] The Old Italian texts also use the verb for a volcano throwing out lapilli, for eyes that shine with feeling, and figuratively for something still alive or a feeling felt keenly.^[2] Buti compares a light to red-hot iron that scintilla under the smith's hammer.^[11]

Later writers kept both the physical and the figurative senses.^[3][11] Crescenzio noted that stars twinkling more than usual foretell wind.^[3] In 1915 the verb was used of atmospheric scintillation in astronomy, and in physics it now also means to give off light by scintillation.^[4][12] The noun scintillio is recorded from 1873, and scintillatore, the detector, from 1965.^[5] The present participle scintillante has become an adjective for lively, sparkling conversation or style.^[10]

Timeline

• 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo writes of the stars that scintillano.^[2][4]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the verb for lights flashing brightly.^[4]
• 1873 – Scintillio is recorded.^[5]
• 1915 – The astronomical sense “to show atmospheric scintillation” is recorded.^[4]
• 1965 – Scintillatore is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To give off sparks.^{[6][13][14][15][1]}: Sotto il martello il ferro rovente scintillava.^[6][13]
2. (intransitive) To sparkle, to twinkle: to shine with a bright, flickering light.^{[6][13][14][15][1]}: Di notte le stelle scintillano sul lago.^[6][13]
3. (intransitive) To stand out for bright colours or a clear light.^[6]
4. (intransitive, of the eyes) To shine with feeling: quando lo vide, gli occhi le scintillarono di felicità.^{[6][13][14][12]}
5. (intransitive, astronomy) To show atmospheric scintillation.^[15][4]
6. (intransitive, physics) Of a substance struck by radiation, to give off light.^[6][12]

Word family

• scintillante
• scintillio
• scintillatore
• scintillamento
• riscintillare

Related words

• scintilla
• scintigrafia
• scintillazione
• French étinceler

Usage notes

Zingarelli allows avere or essere as auxiliary; the other dictionaries give avere.^[15][13][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli