timore

Forms

timore m (plural timori)^[1] The 13th-century form is Old Italian temore; poetry also uses the shortened timor.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin timor (“fear”), a learned word according to Zingarelli and the GDLI.^[4][3][2][5] The older form is Old Italian temore, which Wiktionary thinks was altered to match the Latin more closely.^[2][1] Timor is derived from timeō (“to fear”) with the suffix -or.^[6][1][2] The origin of timeō is unclear; de Vaan rejects a link with words meaning “stiff”.^[7][2]

The Latin noun lives on in most Romance languages: Old French temour, Occitan temor, Catalan temor, Spanish temor, Portuguese temor and Sardinian timore.^[8][9] Italian also kept the inherited tema “fear”, from the verb temere.^[10][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the 13th century the word is still temore: the Anonimo Genovese urges a man in adversity to take heart so that baseness may not make him perish per troppo temore, and Chiaro Davanzati tells someone to ask without temore.^[2][3] The form timore is first found in the 14th century, in Dante, Francesco da Buti and Petrarch.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the Convivio Dante says he is moved by timore d'infamia, the fear of disgrace, a phrase that Petrarch repeats.^[3][11] The sense “respect, awe” is dated by DELI to Domenico Cavalca, before 1342.^[2] Church Latin had already used the derived Ecclesiastical Latin timorātus for one who fears God, and Italian timorato appears in Jacopone da Todi, before 1306;^[2][12] timorato di Dio is recorded before 1606.^[2][12]

In theology timore di Dio is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and in ordinary speech someone senza timor di Dio has no scruples.^[4][13] Timore reverenziale is the awe felt towards one's superiors.^[14][15]

Timeline

• Before 1257 – Zingarelli's first date for the word.^[4]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses timorato.^[2]
• 14th century – Timore appears in Dante, Francesco da Buti and Petrarch.^[2]
• c. 1300 – Timoroso “fearful” appears in the translation of Albertano.^[2]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses timore for respect or awe.^[2]
• Before 1606 – Bernardo Davanzati writes i timorati d'Iddio.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. fear, apprehension, anxiety about a real or imagined danger or misfortune: il timore di sbagliare.^[5][14][16]
2. (often plural) A cause of worry: i suoi timori si rivelarono esagerati.^[14][4]
3. Concern about doing something unwelcome or out of place: parlava piano per timore di disturbare.^[5][14][16]
4. awe, respect mixed with deference: incutere timore.^[5][14][15]
5. (theology) timore di Dio: the fear of God, one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.^[14][4][15]

Word family

• timoroso
• timorato
• intimorire

Related words

• temere
• tema
• timido
• Latin timor

Usage notes

Timor panico is a sudden, groundless terror.^[5][14] Battisti–Alessio records a separate dialect timore, a Pisan and Corsican form of tumore “tumour” used by Renato Fucini in the 19th century.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
13. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3793