vampiro Italian · revision 39189

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1749, Giovanni Bergantini|origins=sh vampir}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /vamˈpi.ro/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vampiro''' ''m'' (plural vampiri)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|vampire]], recorded in French from 1746.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary) French took it from [[de|Vampir]], and German from [[sh|vampir]], which Treccani and GRADIT gloss “one who rises from the grave”.^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(DEI|3984) DELI notes that it is hard to say whether Italian took the Slavic word directly, through German or through French: D'Alberti in 1771 referred to a German superstition and name, but the first Italian record is in the title of a work translated from French.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The further origin of the Slavic word is disputed.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI) Wiktionary derives it from [[sla-pro|*ǫpyrь]].^(Wiktionary) Nocentini traces it to a Turkic word brought to the Balkans by the early Bulgars, comparing [[cv|vupăr]], a blood-sucking demon of Turkic folklore, from a root meaning “to swallow”.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is of 1749, in Giovanni Bergantini, for the spectre of popular belief that leaves its grave at night to suck the blood of the living.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) Nocentini dates the word to 1741.^(Nocentini 2010) Bergantini's ''vampirismo'' was taken in 1746 from the Florentine ''Lezioni accademiche'', which described the belief that the dead rose to suck the hearts of the living somewhere in Germany.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The 18th-century word belonged to the learned debate about the vampire scares of central and eastern Europe: Giovanni Bottari cites Dom Calmet's treatise on apparitions and vampires, and Alberto Fortis reports that the Morlachs of Dalmatia believed in vampires as firmly as the people of Transylvania.^(GDLI|21)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ In 1772 the Italian translation of Buffon's natural history named a blood-sucking American bat ''vampiro'', after Buffon's French name.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|3984) In 1779 a newspaper used the word figuratively for usurers and speculators, a sense the dictionaries still give.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The 20th century added ''donna vampiro'', a femme fatale, and slang for someone who uses another person's cordless or mobile phone line illicitly.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1746 – French ''vampire'' is first recorded.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1749 – Giovanni Bergantini uses ''vampiro''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1756 – ''Vampirismo'' appears in the translation of Calmet.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1772 – The Italian Buffon applies the name to a bat.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1779 – ''Vampiro'' is used figuratively for a usurer.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1805 – The word is in D'Alberti's dictionary.^(DEI|3984)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|vampire]], in the folk belief of central and eastern Europe and in later fiction and film, a dead person who leaves the grave at night to feed on the blood of the living: ''un film di vampiri''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A ruthless speculator or [[m|en|usurer]], someone who bleeds others dry.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(zoology)'' A [[m|en|vampire bat]], any of the blood-feeding bats of Central and South America; also a name of some American bats that do not feed on blood.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(slang)'' Someone who illicitly uses another person's cordless or mobile phone line.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[vampirismo]]

+ * [[vampiresco]]

+ * [[vampirizzare]]

+ * [[vampira]]

+ * [[vampireggiare]]

+ * [[vampiressa]]

+ * [[vampiristico]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fr|vampire]]

+ * [[sh|vampir]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ After a noun it is used as an invariable adjective: ''donna vampiro'', a seductive woman, a vamp.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020) The feminine is ''vampira'', rarely ''vampiressa''.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}