almeno

Forms

almeno (adverb; literary and dated also written separately, al meno)^[1][2][3] Old Italian forms include almen, almino, allmen, ammino and southern alminu.^[4]

Etymology

It is from Italian al + meno written as one word, literally “at the least”.^[5][6][7][1] The Romance languages have parallel phrases: French au moins, Spanish al menos, Portuguese ao menos and Catalan almenys.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Patecchio's Splanamento, a didactic poem from Cremona of the early 13th century, where it introduces a lesser alternative to something denied: “if not more, at least”.^[4][6] DELI dates it from Dante's Vita nuova (1293–1294), whose opening says that the author will copy out the words of his memory, “and if not all of them, at least their meaning” (e se non tutte, almeno la loro sentenzia).^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

From the start the adverb had two uses: “if nothing else”, setting a smaller alternative against a greater one, and “at the very least” with numbers and amounts.^[4] In Old Italian it already appeared in wishes and commands, as it does today with the imperfect subjunctive: Dante's Matelda says Ponete mente almen com'io son bella! (“Consider at least how beautiful I am!”).^[4][8]

Tommaseo records the doubled almeno almeno as a stronger form, and Manzoni used it.^[9][2] The spelling al meno survives only as a literary or dated variant.^[2][3]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Patecchio of Cremona uses the adverb in the Splanamento.^[4]
• 1293–1294 – Dante uses almeno in the Vita nuova.^[5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. At least, if nothing else: Rispondimi almeno con un messaggio.^[7][10][11]
2. With numbers and quantities, at the very least, no fewer than: Saranno almeno due chilometri.^[7][10][12]
3. With the imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive, expressing a wish or a regret: Almeno smettesse di piovere!, se almeno me l'avessi detto prima.^[10][11][3]
4. As a connective, limiting what has just been said: at any rate, anyway.^[12]

Related words

• meno
• perlomeno
• French au moins
• Spanish al menos

Usage notes

Almeno can be strengthened by se non introducing the greater alternative (se non oggi, almeno domani).^[12] Its synonyms are perlomeno and quantomeno.^[7][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
3. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
4. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 343
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse