tremolare

Forms

tremolare (first-person singular present trèmolo, first-person singular past historic tremolài, past participle tremolàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] An old and literary variant is tremulare.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin tremulō (“to tremble”), a Late Latin verb known from glosses.^[5][6][7][1] Most dictionaries derive it from the adjective tremulus (“trembling”), while Nocentini calls it a diminutive of tremō (“to tremble”).^[8][9][3][5] The DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance verb formed on the verb for “tremble” with an expressive suffix that made verbs of the first conjugation, and finds the derivation from the adjective, proposed by von Wartburg, less economical.^[10]

All Romance branches except Dalmatian have the verb: French trembler, Catalan tremolar, Spanish temblar, Sardinian tremulare and Romanian tremura.^[5][10][11] The forms with /mbl/ come from a syncopated type; the Spanish verb lost its first /r/ after temer (“to fear”).^[10][11]

The Latin verb continues Proto-Indo-European *trem- (“to tremble”), also found in Ancient Greek τρέμω (trémō) and Lithuanian trimti.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dante is the first to use the word, in the Commedia (1313–19), for something that sways lightly and often and for light that shines unsteadily.^[13] He also uses it as a noun: di lontano / conobbi il tremolar de la marina “from afar I made out the trembling of the sea”.^[13][2]

Semantic evolution

Dante's leaves bend tremolando in the breeze, an image Poliziano repeats with the grass.^[3] Tommaseo set the word apart from tremare: the earth trembles but does not tremola, while old age makes one tremolare.^[4] The sense of a voice or sound that wavers in tone or loudness is recorded before 1647 in Doni.^[13] The musical uses grew out of it.^[13][6]

Derivatives include tremolante (14th century), tremolamento and tremolio (16th century).^[6] German took the musical verb as tremolieren (1728), and French as trémoler (1948).^[14]

Timeline

• 1313–1319 – Dante uses the verb and the noun il tremolar.^[13]
• 14th century – Tremolante is recorded in M. Villani.^[6]
• 16th century – Tremolamento and tremolio appear.^[6]
• Before 1647 – G. B. Doni uses it of a wavering voice or sound.^[13]
• 1728 – German tremolieren is first recorded.^[14]
• 1948 – French trémoler is first recorded.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To quiver, shake lightly and quickly: Le tende tremolavano davanti alla finestra aperta.^[8][15][2]
2. (intransitive) Of light, to flicker or twinkle: In fondo alla valle tremolavano le luci del paese.^[8][15][2]
3. (intransitive) Of a voice or sound, to waver.^[8][2][15]
4. (literary) To tremble, shiver.^[2][16]
5. (music, transitive) To perform with a tremolo.^[8][15][17]

Word family

• tremolante
• tremolio
• tremolo
• tremolamento
• tremolando

Related words

• tremore
• tremulo
• tremare
• Latin tremō

Usage notes

The infinitive is also used as a noun, il tremolare, “the trembling, flicker”.^[2][9] Zingarelli dates the word to 1287.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3883
7. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b c Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana