andarsene

Forms

andarsene (pronominal, first-person singular present me ne vàdo, first-person singular past historic me ne andài, past participle andàtosene, first-person singular future me ne andrò, first-person singular subjunctive me ne vàda, second-person singular imperative vàttene)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian andare + si + ne: the verb of going with the reflexive pronoun, which takes the form ⟨se⟩ before another clitic, and the pronoun meaning “from there”.^[2][1][3] The pronoun “ne” continues Latin inde (“from there”).^[3] The origin of “andare” itself is disputed: the LEI and Bonfante derive it from Latin ambulō (“to walk”), while many other scholars start from Vulgar Latin *ambitāre.^[4][5][3]

Other Romance languages build the same kind of verb: French s'en aller, Catalan anar-se'n and, less closely, Spanish irse.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the verb to before 1294.^[2] The TLIO records Old Italian andarne and andarsene for going away from a place or a person, beside andare via, and already the euphemistic sense “to die”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the pronominal form figuratively for a solid that turns to something less compact, as in andarsene in fumo “to go up in smoke”.^[6] Many phrases came to mean “to leave”: pigliare l'ambio, from the gait of a horse, is used for andarsene from 1587 (Giovanni Maria Cecchi).^[5]

In modern Italian the verb can stress a plain movement (andarsene a casa), mean leaving for good, serve as a euphemism for dying, and be said of time that slips by.^[2][1]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Andarsene is first recorded.^[2]
• 1587 – Pigliare l'ambio is used for andarsene by Giovanni Maria Cecchi.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To go away, leave: Si è fatto tardi, me ne vado.^[2][1]
2. To leave a place, with da: Se ne andò dal paese a vent'anni.^[1]
3. With intensive force, simply to go: andarsene a letto.^[2]
4. (euphemistic) To pass away, die: Il nonno se n'è andato in pace.^[2][1][6]
5. (figurative) Of time, money and the like, to pass, slip away, be used up.^[2]

Related words

• andare
• French s'en aller

Usage notes

The pronouns change with the person: me ne vado, te ne vai, se ne va; the imperative is vattene, and the compound tenses take essere (se n'è andato).^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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 Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 596
6. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it