bestemmiare

• biastemmare, biastemmiare (archaic)

Blend of biastemmiare (archaic form) +‎ bestia (“beast”). The former derives from Late Latin blastēmāre (variant of blasphēmāre). Doublet of blasfemare and biasimare.

• IPA^(key): /be.stemˈmja.re/
• Rhymes: -are
• Hyphenation: be‧stem‧mià‧re

bestemmiàre (first-person singular present bestémmio, first-person singular past historic bestemmiài, past participle bestemmiàto, auxiliary avére)

1. (transitive) to blaspheme
   • 1300s–1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto V”, in Inferno [Hell]‎, lines 34–36; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate]‎, 2^nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:

     Quando giungon davanti a la ruina,
     quivi le strida, il compianto, il lamento;
     bestemmian quivi la virtù divina.

     When they arrive in front of the destruction, there the screams, the crying, the lamentation; there they blaspheme the divine virtue.

2. (intransitive) to commit blasphemy
3. (transitive, by extension) 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]‎, 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. (intransitive, by extension) to curse, to swear, to cuss
5. (intransitive, by extension) to express erroneous judgments, to rant
6. (transitive, by extension) to offend, to insult
7. (intransitive, by extension) to get angry
8. (transitive, figurative) to butcher (a language)
9. (transitive, figurative) to revile
   • c. 1820, Giacomo Leopardi, “Zibaldone di pensieri [Mixture of Thoughts]”, in Pensieri di varia filosofia e di bella letteratura [Thoughts of Varied Philosophy and Fine Literature]‎, Florence: Le Monnier, published 1898, page 104:

     mentre bestemmiano l’arte e predicano la natura, non s’accorgono che la minor arte è minor natura

     they revile art and praise nature, not realizing that less art equals less nature

• bestemmia
• bestemmiatore

• Accademia della Crusca (1729–1738) “biastemmare e biastemmiare”, in Vocabolario degli accademici della Crusca (in Italian), 4 edition – on www.lessicografia.it
• bestemmiare in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• bestemmierà