tingere

Forms

tingere (first-person singular present tìngo, first-person singular past historic tìnsi, past participle tìnto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tĭngere (“to dip in a liquid, soak; to dye”).^[2][3][4][1] The older Italian form was Old Italian tignere, the one Dante uses, and the modern form is first recorded in 1697.^[2][5] Zingarelli calls the verb learned, but among the Romance forms Nocentini singles out only Portuguese tingir as learned, in Portuguese.^[6][3]

The same verb is French teindre, Old Occitan tenher, Catalan tenyir and Spanish teñir, and Sardinian tingere in Logudorese; the DEI notes that it is found throughout Romance except Romanian.^[3][7][8] The sense “to colour”, the only one left in Italian, was already Latin, as in tinctor (“dyer”) and tinctūra (“dyeing”).^[2] Late Latin of the 4th century made a noun Late Latin tincta (“pen stroke”) from the participle, the source of tinta.^[2] On the model of Ancient Greek βάπτω (báptō), Church Latin also used the verb for “to baptise”.^[2]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *teng-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to make wet”), and is cognate with Ancient Greek τέγγω (téngō, “to make wet”) and Old High German thunkōn (“to immerse”).^[9][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the verb before 1257, and the DEI to the 13th century.^[6][8] DELI's earliest examples, as tignere in the sense “to make something a different colour”, are in Dante (1300–1313) and, in the same years, in the statute of the Sienese wool guild.^[2] In Dante's Inferno the damned speak of themselves as those che tignemmo il mondo di sanguigno (“who stained the world blood-red”).^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

The dyers' trade gave the verb its family early: tintore “dyer” in a Florentine bankers' book of 1211, tinta “dye” before 1237, and tintura and tinto in the Calimala merchants' statute of 1332–1337.^[2] Zucchero Bencivenni wrote that tignere e battezzare è tutto uno (“dyeing and baptising are one and the same”), echoing the Church Latin sense.^[2]

The sense “to stain, soil” is recorded before 1616 in Scamozzi, and the pronominal tingersi “to take on a colour” in 1581 in Tasso.^[2] The reflexive “to put on make-up” reached the dictionaries in 1961.^[2] Figuratively a feeling can tingersi of another, as hope colours waiting.^[11][12] A proverb has the pan tell the pot fatti in là che mi tingi (“move over, you'll blacken me”).^[11]

The GDLI also records an aphetic tingere from intingere, “to dip”, chiefly in tingere la penna “to dip one's pen”, said of the spirit in which one writes.^[13]

Timeline

• Before 1257 – first record according to Zingarelli.^[6]
• 1300–1313 – Dante and the Sienese wool statute use tignere.^[2]
• 1332–1337 – tintura and tinto appear in the Calimala statute.^[2]
• 1581 – Tasso uses tingersi “to take on a colour”.^[2]
• Before 1616 – Scamozzi uses the verb for “to stain”.^[2]
• 1697 – the form tingere is recorded in P. Boccone.^[2]
• 1961 – tingersi “to put on make-up” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To dye: to give something a different colour by dipping it in a dye or covering it with paint: Ho tinto di verde la vecchia giacca.^[4][5][11]
2. To stain or soil: Il succo dei mirtilli mi ha tinto la maglietta.^[4][5][6]
3. (poetic, figurative) To stain morally, especially with blood.^[4][11]
4. (literary, figurative) To colour, of the natural colours things take on: L'alba tingeva di rosa le colline.^[4][6][11]
5. (intransitive, colloquial) To run, to give off colour: Attento, quel tessuto nuovo tinge.^[6][12]
6. (reflexive) tingersi: to dye one's hair; to put on make-up.^[6][14][12]
7. (pronominal) tingersi di: to take on a colour; figuratively, to take on a shade of a feeling: La sua voce si tinse di malinconia.^[6][12][14]

Word family

• tinta
• tinto
• tintore
• tintoria
• tintorio
• tintura
• tinteggiare
• tintarella
• stingere
• ritingere
• tingitura

Related words

• intingere
• Latin tingo

Usage notes

The older form tignere is archaic.^[5][12][11] The past historic is tinsi and the past participle tinto.^[1][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3795
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. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 1045
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana