bestemmiare

Italian

Etymology

From a cross of bestia (“beast”) with Old Italian biastemmare, biastemmiare, itself from Vulgar Latin *blastēmāre, present active infinitive of *blastēmō, from Ecclesiastical Latin, Late Latin blasphēmō, from Ancient Greek βλασφημέω (blasphēméō). Doublet of biasimare, which came through Old French.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bes.temˈmja.re/, [bes̪t̪emˈmjäːr̺e̞]
• Rhymes: -are
• Hyphenation: be‧stem‧mià‧re

Verb

bestemmiare

1. to blaspheme, specifically:
   1. (transitive) To speak of, or address, with impious irreverence; to revile impiously (anything sacred).
   2. (intransitive) To commit blasphemy.
   3. (by extension, transitive) To curse.
      • 1321, Dante Alighieri, La divina commedia: Inferno [The Divine Comedy: Hell], 12th edition (paperback), Le Monnier, published 1994, Canto III, page 43, lines 103–105:

        Bestemmiavano Dio e lor parenti, ¶ l’umana spezie e ’l loco e ’l tempo e ’l seme ¶ di lor semenza e di lor nascimenti.

        God they blasphemed and their progenitors, ¶ the human race, the place, the time, the seed ¶ of their engendering and of their birth.

      • 1353, Giovanni Boccaccio, “Giornata nona, Novella I [Ninth Day, First Story]”, in Decamerone [Decameron]‎^[1], Tommaso Hedlin, published 1527, page 210:

        Rinuccio dolente, & beſtemmiando la ſua ſventura non ſe ne tornò a caſa per tutto queſto

        Rinuccio, crestfallen and cursing his evil fortune, nevertheless went not home

   4. (by extension, intransitive) To curse, swear.
   5. (figurative, transitive) To calumniate, revile.

Related terms

• bestemmia
• bestemmiatore

Anagrams

• bestemmierà