inferno Italian · revision 38359

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=early 13th century, Uguccione da Lodi|origins=la inferus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /inˈfɛr.no/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''inferno''' ''m'' (plural inferni)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la-lat|infernum|t=hell]], the noun use of [[la|infernus|t=lower, underground]].^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)^(Wiktionary) The Latin adjective is formed from [[m|la|inferus|t=lying below]] on the model of [[m|la|supernus|t=upper]].^(Wiktionary)^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|2015) In Church Latin it took on its Christian sense: the Vulgate used it to render the Greek and Hebrew names of the realm of the dead, and DELI notes that the adjective [[m|la|infernālis]] is also a word of the Church.^(DEI|2015)^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)

+

+ The word is found in nearly all the Romance languages: [[fr|enfer]], [[oc|enfern]], [[ca|infern]], [[es|infierno]] and [[pt|inferno]], but not Romanian.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|2015)^(REW 1935) Nocentini and the REW treat the Italian word as part of this common inheritance, DELI as a learned word.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is from Uguccione da Lodi at the beginning of the 13th century, in the Christian sense: the place of eternal pain to which the souls of unrepentant sinners are condemned.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old Italian also had ''enferno'' and the popular ''ninferno''.^(GDLI)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) The word also named the underworld of the ancient religions: Giovanni Villani tells how Aeneas was led by the Sibyl to see ''l'inferno e le pene che vi sono'', hell and its torments.^(GDLI) Dante's ''Commedia'' made ''Inferno'' the name of its first part.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011) The figurative sense, anything that makes life unbearable, is recorded before 1420 in Saviozzo, and later uses include chaos, carnage and violent storms.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) The adjective ''infernale'' is in Dante (1300–1313) and took the colloquial sense “tremendous” by 1887.^(DELI 1999)

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+ English borrowed the word in 1834 for “hell”, and used it for a raging fire by 1928.^(Etymonline)^(DIFIT) German ''Inferno'' means the scene of a catastrophe.^(DIFIT)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * Early 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi uses ''inferno''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1300–1313 – Dante uses ''infernale''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1420 – Saviozzo uses ''inferno'' figuratively.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1834 – English ''inferno'' is first recorded.^(Etymonline)^(DIFIT)

+ * 1887 – ''Infernale'' “tremendous” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1890 – The Valtellina wine called ''Inferno'' is recorded.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(Christianity)'' [[m|en|hell]], the place of eternal punishment of the damned; also its depiction in art and literature, and, with a capital, the first part of Dante's ''Commedia''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The [[m|en|underworld]] of the ancient religions.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A place or situation of great suffering: ''Quel lavoro era diventato un inferno.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Chaos, uproar; a scene of destruction: ''Nell'ora di punta la stazione è un inferno.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A violent storm.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # In traditional olive-oil making, the underground room where the waste water is collected.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[infernale]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[inferi]]

+ * [[infero]]

+ * [[la|infernus]]

+ * [[en|inferno]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''D'inferno'' means “terrible” (''un caldo d'inferno''), and ''lingua d'inferno'' and ''tizzone d'inferno'' are a slanderous and a wicked person.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010) The proverb ''le vie dell'inferno sono lastricate di buone intenzioni'' corresponds to the English one about the road to hell.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) The same word is a literary adjective, “lying below, infernal”, as in Dante's ''valle inferna''.^(DELI 1999)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011) ''Inferno'' is also the name of a red Nebbiolo wine from the village of Inferno in Valtellina, recorded from 1890 and used by Carducci.^(GRADIT 2003)^(GDLI)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}