verme

Forms

verme m (plural vermi)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vermis (“worm, maggot”), from the accusative vermem.^[2][3][4][1] The same word is French ver, Occitan verm, Catalan verm, Spanish verme, Portuguese verme, Sardinian berme and Romanian vierme, and it is found in every Romance language.^[3][5]

Latin also had a neuter variant vermen, recorded in the plural vermina for griping pains in the belly; it explains the old form Old Italian vermini and the learned derivatives such as verminoso and verminazione, while vermiculus, the diminutive, lies behind vermicolare and vermiculite.^[2][3] The Tuscan and popular vermine continues the same variant.^[6][5]

vermis goes back to Proto-Italic *wormis and Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis (“worm, snake”).^[7][1] Its only exact match is in Germanic, Proto-Germanic *wurmiz, whence Old High German wurm, modern German Wurm and the English word worm.^[7][3][8] Several other branches point to a form Proto-Indo-European *kʷr̥mi- instead, with the same meaning.^[7][8] Nocentini explains the varying first consonant as taboo distortion of a general word for small harmful creatures, while de Vaan considers that the form with the labiovelar may have lost it in Latin and Germanic.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Tuscan translation by Andrea da Grosseto, dated 1268, and DELI first finds verme in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century, in the general sense of a soft, long, legless invertebrate.^[9][2][3] In Old Italian the word could name any small creeping or crawling creature, insects and spiders included, as well as serpents and other reptiles.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian texts already use the word for the parasite thought to cause tooth decay, for an inner torment, for a principle of moral or political corruption, and for a disease of horses.^[9] Dante has the older form vermo, calling Cerberus il gran vermo, and he describes the cowards of Inferno 3 whose blood and tears were gathered at their feet da fastidiosi vermi (“by loathsome worms”).^[2][10][11] His image of humans as worms nati a formar l'angelica farfalla (“born to form the angelic butterfly”) stands for man as an imperfect and passing creature.^[12][9]

The plural vermini for intestinal worms is recorded in Giordano da Pisa's sermons of 1305–1306, and the sense “caterpillar, larva” in 1572, for the silkworm.^[2] Figurative uses for a vile, worthless person are dated from 1891 and 1961.^[2] In the 17th century the word was applied to the spiral thread of a screw, from its shape.^[13]

Timeline

• 1268 – Andrea da Grosseto's translation has the first record.^[9][3]
• 1287 – Vermicello, a thin pasta, appears in a Florentine convent register.^[2]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses verme.^[2]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses the form vermo.^[2]
• 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses vermini for intestinal parasites.^[2]
• 1572 – The word is used for the silkworm larva.^[2]
• 1681 – Baldinucci uses verme for the thread of a screw.^[13]
• 1891 – The figurative sense “abject person” is first recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A worm: a small invertebrate with a soft, long, contractile body and no legs.^[4][12][14]
2. (zoology) The common name of the annelids, nematodes, flatworms and related groups.^[4][12][15]
3. (popular, in the plural) Intestinal parasites: Il cane ha di nuovo i vermi.^[4][12][16]
4. A maggot or larva, especially of flies, in food or a carcass: verme della farina, the mealworm.^[4][16][10]
5. (figurative) A vile, contemptible person: sentirsi un verme, to feel worthless or deeply ashamed.^[4][14][16]
6. (figurative, uncommon) A feeling that gnaws at the mind: il verme del sospetto.^[4][14]
7. (anatomy) The vermis, the middle part of the cerebellum.^[4][16][10]
8. (mechanics) The spiral thread of a screw.^[4][10]
9. (nautical) A thin line wound into the grooves of a rope to smooth it before it is served.^[4][10]

Word family

• vermicaio
• vermicello
• vermicolare
• vermiculite
• vermiforme
• vermifugo
• verminazione
• verminoso
• vermicoloso
• verminaio
• verminare
• vermocane
• inverminire

Related words

• vermiglio
• Latin vermis
• German Wurm

Usage notes

Set phrases include verme solitario (the tapeworm), verme di terra (the earthworm), nudo come un verme (stark naked) and strisciare come un verme (to grovel).^[4][12][10] The old form vermo survives in poetry and some regions.^[10][14]

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 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 e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 1047
7. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 782
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4024
14. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli