allí

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish allí, inherited from Latin illīc (“there, in that place”).^[2][3][4] Wiktionary and Bénaben analyse it as ad (“to”) joined to the Latin adverb, which would account for the initial ⟨a⟩.^[1][5] Corominas points out that this adverb and its relatives illāc and illinc were stressed on the last syllable, against what the classical grammars teach, and this is why the Spanish word is stressed on its final ⟨í⟩.^[2]

Beside it Spanish kept allá from the adverb meaning “that way” and allende from the one meaning “from there”, all of the same root.^[3][2] Corominas explains the difference in use by the meanings of their Latin sources: the adverb in -á refers to a wider or vaguer place and usually to movement towards it, the adverb in -í to a precise place.^[2]

The same word is Portuguese ali, Galician alí, Asturian ellí and Catalan allí.^[6][7][8][9] Cunha and Nascentes derive the Portuguese word from the same Latin phrase with ad.^[6][10] The Latin adverb is formed from the stem of the demonstrative ille (“that”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy), where the Cid's men set off from Vivar: allí piensan de aguijar, allí sueltan las riendas “there they spur on, there they slacken the reins”.^[11][2] In the same poem it points back to a place just named: the girls are brought into San Esteban, quanto él mejor puede allí las ondró “he honoured them there as best he could”.^[12] Prose texts follow from the turn of the 13th century, among them the Liber Regum (c. 1194–1211) and the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200).^[11]

Semantic evolution

From the start allí named both the place where something is and the place to which one goes, though movement is more often expressed by allá.^[12][2] Unlike allá, it does not admit degrees (más allá but not *más allí).^[12][13] Used after a relative clause it repeats a place just named, as in the proverb adonde está el rey, allí está la corte recorded by Correas in 1627.^[12]

A temporal sense, “then, at that moment”, was in the Academy's dictionary by 1817 (allí fue ello).^[14][15] Alemany (1917) added the distributive use in correlation with aquí for scattered, unspecified places, which the Academy still records.^[16][17] In 1855 the purist Baralt objected to allí donde “wherever” as French in cut, but allowed it where it means “in any place where”.^[18] Today the word also refers back to a point in a text or conversation.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – first record, in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[2][3][12]
• c. 1200 – the spelling allý in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar.^[12]
• c. 1250 – the Aragonese form aillí in the Vidal Mayor.^[12]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for “in that place”.^[20]
• 1476 – Jorge Manrique's Coplas: allí van los señoríos / derechos a se acabar.^[12]
• 1525 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[21]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary gives the temporal sense “then”.^[14]
• 1917 – Alemany derives it from ad illic and records its use in correlation with aquí.^[16]

Meanings

Adverb

1. there, in that place, away from both the speaker and the listener: Mis abuelos vivían allí.^[4][1]
2. To that place: Volveremos allí en agosto.^[4][13]
3. (after a preposition) That place: Desde allí se ve el mar.^[4]
4. then, at that time; mostly after a preposition: Hasta allí todo iba bien.^[4][13]
5. (in correlation with aquí) In one place or another, of scattered places.^[17][13]

Related words

• allá
• allende
• acullá
• aquí
• ahí
• Latin illīc
• Portuguese ali

Usage notes

Allí points to a precise place and does not take degree words, while allá refers to a vaguer or wider area and is the usual adverb of movement.^[12][2] Allí donde means “wherever”;^[13] Moliner records hasta allí as an emphatic expression, like hasta allá.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 225
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. allá
4. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. allí
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. allí
6. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 179
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 3336
8. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. ellí
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. allí
10. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ali
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. allí
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. allí
13. ^ a b c d e f Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. allí
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 56
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 44
16. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 103
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. allí
18. ^ Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 76
19. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. allí
20. ^ Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. allí
21. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. allí