caligine

Italian

caligine in Caracas

Etymology

From Latin cālīgō, cālīginem (“fog”), of uncertain origin. Compare Portuguese caligem (“fog”) and Spanish calina (“haze”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈli.d͡ʒi.ne/
• Rhymes: -idʒine
• Hyphenation: ca‧lì‧gi‧ne

Noun

caligine f (plural caligini)

1. haze (very fine particles suspended in the air)
2. (transferred sense) fog; (figurative) darkening, obfuscation, obscuring
   • 1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto XI”, in Purgatorio [Purgatory]‎^[1], lines 25–26, 28–30; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate]‎^[2], 2^nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:

     Così a sé e noi buona ramogna
     quell’ombre orando, andavan sotto ’l pondo,
     […]
     disparmente angosciate tutte a tondo
     e lasse su per la prima cornice,
     purgando la caligine del mondo.

     Thus those shadows — uttering good wishes for themselves and for us — were going, under the weight, unequally burdened and tired, all around the first terrace, purging themselves of the world's obfuscation.

3. (regional) soot (fine black or dull brown particles produced by incomplete combustion)

   Synonym: fuliggine

Derived terms

• caliginoso

Anagrams

• angelici, galenici

Latin

Noun

cālīgine

1. ablative singular of cālīgō