temere

Forms

temere (first-person singular present tèmo or (traditional) témo, first-person singular past historic temétti or (traditional) temètti or teméi, past participle temùto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old and dialect forms include Old Italian temire, Old Italian timere, Old Italian timire and Old Italian timiri in Sicily.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin timēre (“to fear”).^[3][4][5][1] The same Latin verb is Occitan temer, Catalan tembre, Spanish temer, Portuguese temer, Sardinian timire and Romanian teme.^[4][6][1]

The origin of the Latin verb is unclear.^[3][7][8] Nocentini notes that it has no secure comparisons outside Latin, as is often the case with verbs of fear.^[4] De Vaan rejects a link with words for “stiff”: their root is now reconstructed with a /s/ that would have given a different Latin form.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Nocentini date the verb to the 13th century, and DELI's first record is an Abruzzese text of that century, with the sense “to revere”.^[5][4][3] The GDLI's earliest quotation is from Giacomo da Lentini, who warns Pisa to beware of proud people.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the verb for being in awe of someone and, without an object, for having fears (1300–1313).^[3] Boccaccio's Decameron has the main modern senses, to regard something unpleasant with fear and to suspect that something bad has happened.^[3] Pietro de' Crescenzi's treatise on farming (about 1350) says plants temono, that is, suffer from, certain conditions, and Matteo Villani uses the intransitive verb for distrust.^[3]

Later senses are “to doubt” in Paolo Segneri (1673) and “to be worried for someone” in Tommaseo's dictionary (1879).^[3] The adjective temibile “to be feared” appears in Alessandro Piccolomini in 1575.^[3] Machiavelli's question whether it is better to be loved than feared is a classic use of the verb.^[10][5]

Timeline

• 13th century – An Abruzzese text uses temere “to revere”.^[3]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses it for being in awe and for having fears.^[3]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for fearing and suspecting.^[3]
• About 1350 – The Italian Crescenzi uses it for “to suffer from”.^[3]
• 1575 – Temibile is recorded in Alessandro Piccolomini.^[3]
• 1673 – Paolo Segneri uses the verb for “to doubt”.^[3]
• 1879 – Tommaseo's dictionary records “to be worried”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fear, to be afraid of someone or something, or that something may happen (with di and an infinitive or che and the subjunctive): Teme di perdere il treno.^{[5][10][11][1]}
2. To stand in awe of someone with authority: Da ragazzo temeva molto il nonno.^[5][10]
3. To suspect, expect something unwelcome: Temo che domani nevicherà.^[5][10][11]
4. In polite formulas, to soften a refusal or express regret: Temo di non poterti accompagnare.^[5]
5. To revere, respect: temere Dio.^[5][10][11]
6. (with a negative) To be able to face or beat: Questa squadra non teme rivali.^[5][10]
7. To be sensitive to, suffer from: Queste piante temono il gelo.^[5][11]
8. (intransitive) To be worried (with per): Temeva per la salute della madre.^[11][3]

Word family

• temibile
• tema
• temenza
• temuto

Related words

• timore
• timido
• Latin timeo

Usage notes

The present is temo, pronounced with an open /ɛ/ or, traditionally, a closed /e/, and the past historic has both temei and temetti.^[1][10][11] The GDLI records a separate obsolete temere, a northern name of the grayling (modern temolo), from Medieval Latin timurus.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 826
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse