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adesso

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Pronunciation

  • /aˈdɛs.so/[1]

Forms

adesso (invariable)[1] Old Italian forms include addesso, adessa, ades and adess.[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[4][5][6] The usual explanation, which DELI calls doubtful but which the LEI accepts as the most likely of many proposals, is inherited from Vulgar Latin *addessum, a contraction of the phrase Latin ad (“at”) ipsum tempus (“time”), “at the same time”, with the noun left out.[4][7][1][8] Devoto explains the open /ɛ/ of the Italian word by the influence of ⟨ad pressum⟩ “near”, the source of appresso, and the TLIO also mentions it.[9][2] The old Tuscan ⟨adessa⟩ is explained in the same way from ⟨ad ipsam (hōram)⟩ “at the same hour”.[10][11][2]

Nocentini rejects this source because the stressed /ɛ/ that all the Romance forms require cannot come from the short /i/ of the Latin pronoun, an objection already made by Rohlfs and Coromines.[12] He derives the adverb instead from the glossary form ⟨adersum⟩ “attached”, the past participle of adhaereō (“to cling to”), said of time, so “immediate”.[12] He points to Quintilian's ⟨tempus adhaerens⟩ “the present time”, to a Reichenau gloss of the 8th–9th century, and to the Old Venetian preposition ⟨arente⟩ “near”, from the same Latin verb.[12] Meyer-Lübke proposed a blend of densus (“dense”) with ⟨ad pressum⟩, an idea DEI thinks unlikely.[13][10]

The word is shared with Old French ades, Old Occitan ades and Old Spanish adieso “at once”.[12][13][10] The GDLI does not rule out a borrowing of the Old French adverb, and Sabatini–Coletti derive it from Old Occitan.[11][14] DEI notes that southern Italy uses ⟨mo⟩, from Latin modo (“just now”), which could suggest an early loan from French.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest dated record is in Pier della Vigna, before 1249, with the sense “always”.[4][7] The TLIO's first text is Patecchio's Splanamento, written in the 13th century in the dialect of Cremona.[2] Guido Guinizelli, who died before 1276, uses it as a conjunction meaning “as soon as”.[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used the word for “now” and “immediately”, for “then, after that”, for “always, every time”, and in negative sentences for “never”.[2] The sense “now” is in Dante, as in Purgatorio 18: “Fervore aguto adesso / ricompie forse negligenza e indugio” (keen fervour now perhaps makes up for negligence and delay).[4][11] Francesco da Barberino uses it for “soon” in 1314, and Machiavelli for “a moment ago” before 1527.[4] Ariosto has the doubled adesso adesso “at any moment”.[8]

In the 17th century Daniello Bartoli defended the adverb against writers who rejected it, noting that it had the authority of the old authors and the use of the best modern ones.[11] Today it is the everyday word for “now”, beside ora.[7][14]

Timeline

  • Before 1249 – Pier della Vigna uses adesso for “always”.[4]
  • 13th century – Patecchio's Splanamento (Cremona) has the word.[2]
  • Before 1276 – Guido Guinizelli uses it for “as soon as”.[4]
  • 1314 – Francesco da Barberino uses it for “soon”.[4]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “now, at this moment”.[4]
  • Before 1527 – Machiavelli uses it for “a moment ago”.[4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. now, at this moment: Adesso non posso, sto guidando. Also in e adesso?, asking what is to be done next.[7][15][14]
  2. A moment ago, just now: È uscita adesso dall’ufficio.[7][14][5]
  3. soon, in a moment: Aspetta, adesso arriva.[7][14][16]
  4. As an interjection, “coming!”, in reply to a call.[7][5][14]

Conjunction

  1. In adesso che, now that: Adesso che piove, restiamo in casa.[5][16][6]
  • esso
  • desso
  • appresso
  • Old French ades
  • Latin ipse

Usage notes

Common phrases are per adesso “for now”, da adesso in poi “from now on” and fin d’adesso “from this moment”.[7][5][6] In the south the same sense is expressed by mo, which continues Latin modo.[10][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 23
  9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 20
  10. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 61
  11. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  12. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  13. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  14. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  15. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana