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ancora

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ancora1 still, again

Pronunciation

Forms

ancora[1]

Etymology

The adverb is inherited from Vulgar Latin *hancōra, from the phrase Latin hanc (“this”) hōram (“hour”), “at this hour”, according to DELI, GRADIT, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti.[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary takes it from a Late Latin ⟨in hanc hōram⟩ “until this hour”, and Körting thought ⟨(ad) hanc hōram⟩ the likely base of the Italian, French and Occitan words.[1][6]

Nocentini instead makes it a borrowing of Old French encore or ⟨ancore⟩, a compound of ⟨anc⟩ (the same as Italian anche) and ⟨ore⟩ “now”, itself from ⟨*hā hōra⟩, parallel to Occitan encara and Catalan encara.[7] Devoto and Treccani also derive it from the Old French adverb, Treccani from a Latin ⟨hinc ad hōram⟩ “from then until this hour”.[8][9] Meyer-Lübke traced the Old French word, whose oldest form is ⟨uncore⟩, to umquam (“ever”) with “hōra”, and remarked that Gamillscheg's ⟨hac hōra⟩ fits only the Italian form;[10][11] Prati likewise wavers between the French source and Latin “hanc hōram”.[10][11] DELI mentions the French hypothesis only in passing.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's earliest sense is “moreover”, in Brunetto Latini before 1294;[2][3] “until then, up to now” follows in Iacopone da Todi before 1306.[2][3] Nocentini dates the word to the early 13th century.[7] The GDLI's first quotation is Iacopone's “pochi presente da voi n’abi ancore” (I have had few gifts from you so far).[12]

Semantic evolution

Nocentini explains that the sense “until now” grew up in negative sentences such as ancora non si è svegliato (he has not woken up yet), so the adverb implies that what it describes runs against expectation.[7] Old Italian could also use it for “already, once before”, a use kept in Venetian, where l'ho visto ancora means “I have seen it before”.[7] The sense “again” is in Dante, before 1321, and Petrarch writes “Io amai sempre, et amo forte ancóra” (I always loved, and still love strongly).[2][12]

As a conjunction meaning “although” it is now archaic;[3][9][13] Dante has “ch'i' ti conosco, ancor sie lordo tutto” (for I know you, even though you are all filthy).[3][9][13] The compound ancorché “although” dates from the 13th century.[7] English took ancora as a call for a repeat performance in 1712, later replaced by French encore, and German had it by 1806.[14]

Timeline

  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses ancora for “moreover”.[2]
  • 13th century – Ancorché “although” is recorded.[7]
  • Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses it for “until now”.[2]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “again”.[2]
  • 1712 – English uses ancora as a call for a repeat.[14]
  • 1806 – The same call is recorded in German.[14]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. still, showing that an action or state goes on at the time in question: alle dieci dormiva ancora.[3][4][5]
  2. yet, in negative sentences: il treno non è ancora partito.[3][4][13]
  3. again, once more; also as an exclamation asking for a repeat or showing annoyance: ho sbagliato ancora.[3][9][5]
  4. More, in addition: vuoi ancora un po' di caffè?[3][9][13]
  5. even, strengthening a comparative: oggi fa ancora più caldo.[3][9][13]

Conjunction

  1. (archaic) although, even though.[3][9]

Word family

  • ancorché

ancora2 anchor

Pronunciation

  • /ˈan.ko.ra/[1]

Forms

ancora f (plural ancore)[1] Old Italian also had ancola, which appears in the Fiore.[2][15] Dialect forms include Genoese àncoa and Sicilian àngula.[10][16]

Etymology

The anchor is inherited from Latin ancora (“anchor”), borrowed from Ancient Greek ἄγκυρα (ánkura).[2][7][3][17] DELI, GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti derive the Greek word from ἄγκος (ánkos, “bend, curve”), and Nocentini from a base meaning “curvature” that is also behind angolo.[2][3][5][7] Wiktionary notes that Beekes instead takes it as a Pre-Greek word because of its suffix.[1] DEI thinks Latin took it through an Etruscan form, and Devoto explains the short Latin vowel the same way.[18][8]

The Latin word lives on in the whole Romance domain: French ancre, Old Occitan ancora, Catalan àncora, Spanish áncora and ancla, and Portuguese âncora; it also passed into German Anker and English anchor.[17][7] DELI finds it hard to explain why the Old Italian variant with ⟨l⟩ and the verb ⟨ancolarsi⟩ in the poem known as the Fiore are followed by no further record until the 16th century.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian translation of the Pamphilus, about 1250, for the iron tool that holds a boat to the sea bottom.[19] DELI dates it to the 13th century in the portolans.[2] Dante uses it in Inferno 16: “a solver l'ancora ch'aggrappa / o scoglio o altro” (to free the anchor that grips a rock or something else).[12]

Semantic evolution

Fra Giordano compares the Cross of Christ to the anchor that keeps the ship safe in a storm.[12] Technical senses followed: the iron bar held across the poles of a magnet in 1865 in Tommaseo–Bellini (1863 in the Crusca), and the anchor-shaped piece of a clock's escapement in 1863.[2] The figurative ancora di salvezza, the spare anchor kept for emergencies, came to mean a last hope or the person one relies on in need.[4][13]

Derivatives include ancoraggio, found as ancoragium in the administrative Latin of Rome in 1465 and in Italian in a Florentine document of 1488, ancoretta in Galileo (1630–1631), and the verb ancorare, which DELI dates to 1768 and Nocentini to the early 16th century.[2][7]

Timeline

  • c. 1250 – The Venetian Pamphilus uses ancora “anchor”.[19]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses the word in the Inferno.[12]
  • 1488 – Ancoraggio appears in a Florentine document.[2]
  • 1630–1631 – Galileo uses ancoretta.[2]
  • 1768 – Ancorare is recorded in Targioni Tozzetti.[2]
  • 1863 – The Crusca records the sense “part of a clock's escapement”.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (nautical) An anchor, a heavy iron or steel device with curved arms that grips the bottom and holds a vessel in place: gettarono l'ancora davanti al porto.[3][4][5]
  2. Any device with a similar function: the anchor of an airship.[3][4]
  3. (physics) The soft iron keeper placed across the poles of a magnet or worked by an electromagnet.[3][5][15]
  4. (horology) The anchor of a clock's escapement.[3][5][13]
  5. The bar of a ski lift to which one or two skiers hold on.[3][15]
  6. (figurative) In ancora di salvezza, a last resort, or a person one relies on.[4][15][9]

Word family

  • ancoraggio
  • ancorare
  • ancoretta
  • disancorare
  • ancorotto

Usage notes

The adverb is stressed on the second syllable, ancóra, and the noun on the first, àncora;[15][4] Zingarelli notes that the accent is sometimes written to tell them apart.[15][4] Before a consonant the adverb is often shortened to ancor (ancor più).[1][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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 e f g h i j k l m n o p q r De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 32
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  10. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 53
  12. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  14. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  15. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  16. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 52
  17. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 1102
  18. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 190
  19. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it