ambo

Forms

ambo (usually invariable, rare masculine plural ambi, rare feminine plural ambe)^[1] As a noun ambo is masculine, with the plural ambi.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ambō (“both”).^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The Latin word was an old dual, which Vulgar Latin replaced with the plural ambī, feminine ambae, formed like duī; the popular Romance forms come from these.^[6][7] They include Romanian îmbi, Old French am and ambes, Old Occitan ams, Spanish ambos and Portuguese ambos.^[7][8][3]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *ambō, a dual whose ending reflects the Indo-European dual.^[9] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)nt-bʰoH (“both”), with cognates in Ancient Greek ἄμφω (ámphō), Lithuanian abù and German beide; the ⟨-t-⟩ of Tocharian suggests that it began as a case form of a word for “face”.^[9] Nocentini divides it into Proto-Indo-European *amb- (“around”) and Proto-Indo-European *bhō (“both”), “the two taken together”, and connects it closely with ambi- (“around”) and ἀμφί (amphí).^[3] Wiktionary cites Dunkel for the view that the link with the prefix holds only for the first syllable.^[1]

The lotto noun is the same word used as a noun.^[10][11][1] DEI calls it a learned word, which passed into French ambe and Spanish ambo.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, from the last quarter of the 12th century, where it means “both, the one and the other”.^[5] A Pisan text of 1264 has a[m]bu latora “both sides”, and Dante uses it from about 1308.^[12][13]

Semantic evolution

Dante's Inferno has Pier della Vigna say Io son colui che tenni ambo le chiavi / del cor di Federigo (“I am the one who held both keys of Frederick's heart”).^[13][14] Old Italian also used it to mean simply “two”.^[5] The plurals ambi and ambe are used from Ariosto (1532), and Tommaseo in 1865 called ambi no longer used even in writing;^[12] Old Milanese had nu am “we two” in Bonvesin da la Riva.^[12] Today the word is literary, beside the commoner entrambi and ambedue.^[15][16][17]

In games, ambassi “double ace” at dice is recorded from about 1310, and Nocentini takes it as a calque of French ambesas.^[12][3] The lotto sense, two numbers drawn on the same wheel, is first recorded in Niccolò Forteguerri, who died in 1735; it was later applied to the tombola.^[2][4] Tommaseo records ambo dichiarato, where the numbers must come out in the position played, and the figurative non c'è da cavarci un ambo, of a person whose intentions cannot be made out.^[14] The lotto word passed into French ambe (1762) and Austrian German Ambo (1806).^[18]

Timeline

• 1175–1200 – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur has the first record.^[5]
• 1264 – A Pisan text has a[m]bu latora “both sides”.^[12]
• c. 1310 – Ambassi “double ace” appears in the Fiore.^[12]
• c. 1319 – Dante uses ambo as a pronoun.^[12]
• 1532 – Ariosto uses the plural ambi.^[12]
• Before 1735 – Niccolò Forteguerri uses ambo in the lotto.^[2][18]
• 1762 – French ambe is recorded.^[18]
• 1806 – German Ambo is recorded in Austria.^[18]
• 1942 – Ambata, a lotto combination of two numbers, is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Determiner

1. (literary) both, before the article and a plural noun; usually invariable, rarely ambi (masculine) and ambe (feminine): con ambo le braccia.^{[4][15][13][11][1]}
2. (literary, as a pronoun) Both, the two of them.^[4][5][14]

Noun

1. (games) In the lotto, a win with two of the numbers played drawn on the same wheel: un ambo sulla ruota di Bari.^{[4][15][16][13][1]}
2. (games) In tombola, two numbers drawn that lie on the same row of a card.^{[4][15][16][17]}

Word family

• ambata
• ambassi
• ambedue
• ambigenere
• entrambi

Related words

• ambi-
• Latin ambō
• Ancient Greek ἄμφω (ámphō)

Usage notes

Ambo secco is a pair of numbers played in the lotto with no other combination.^[17][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 156
7. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 575
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
11. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c d 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 c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
18. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it