anzi

Forms

anzi (invariable)^[1] Old spellings include Old Italian ançi, Old Italian anci, Old Italian ansi, Old Italian anze and Old Italian anço.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin antea (“before, previously”), the adverb formed from ante (“before”), according to one explanation DELI gives, or a comparative Vulgar Latin *antius, according to the other.^[3][4][5][1] The dictionaries of current Italian give the Latin adverb, or the simple preposition in its form before a vowel, and Devoto, Körting and Wiktionary explain the final ⟨-i⟩ by the influence of avanti and anti.^{[4][6][7][8][1]} DEI calls the comparative needless, and Meyer-Lübke rejected it because its stress differs.^[9][10] The LEI, Nocentini and the TLIO accept the comparative, proposed by Ménage in 1694 and later by Thomas, Schuchardt and Gossen; the LEI calls it an attempt to strengthen a word that already expressed priority.^{[11][12][2][3]} Wiktionary also mentions Late Latin antesic in the account of the pilgrim Egeria.^[1]

The same word is Old French ainz, Old Occitan antz, Catalan ans, Friulian anzi, Sardinian anzis and Old Spanish anzes.^[12][11][10] The Latin preposition comes from Proto-Italic *anti, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énti, the locative of a root noun *h₂ent- (“front”); the cognates include Ancient Greek ἀντί (antí, “opposite”), Sanskrit अन्ति (ánti, “near, facing”) and Hittite ḫanza (“in front”).^[13][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Contrasto of the troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (c. 1190), in its Genoese part, and the preposition is in a Florentine document of 1211.^[2] DELI's first record of ançi “instead, on the contrary” is the Ritmo laurenziano of the early 13th century, and the sense “before” is in Dante (1293–1294).^[3] DEI notes anzi in medieval documents of 1100.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used anzi for “rather, instead”, for correcting a statement, for “before” in time and for “in front of” in place.^[2] Dante asks in the Inferno “Chi se' tu che vieni anzi ora?” (“who are you that come before your time?”).^[14][15] The temporal preposition is now only literary, as in Leopardi's anzi il chiarir dell'alba (“before the dawn grows light”), and the adverb “before” survives in poc'anzi “a little while ago”, recorded in this spelling from 1865 (poco anzi before 1535, Berni).^[4][16][11]

Compounds formed early: innanzi (1211) and dinanzi (13th century) from Vulgar Latin phrases with *antius, dianzi (c. 1313, Dante), anzitempo (14th century), anziché (16th century, earlier as anzi… che) and anzitutto (1842).^[12][11] The phrase anzi che no “rather, somewhat” is already in Old Italian.^[2]

Timeline

• 1100 – Anzi appears in medieval documents.^[9]
• c. 1190 – Raimbaut de Vaqueiras uses anzi in his Contrasto.^[2]
• 1211 – A Florentine document uses it as a preposition, and innanzi is recorded.^[2][12]
• 1293–1294 – Dante uses anzi for “before”.^[3]
• c. 1313 – Dante uses dianzi.^[11]
• 1842 – Anzitutto is recorded.^[12]
• 1865 – Poc'anzi is recorded in the Tommaseo–Bellini dictionary.^[11]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. on the contrary, instead, after a negative statement: Non mi annoio, anzi mi diverto molto. On its own, Anzi! answers “not at all”.^[4][5][16]
2. Or rather, or better, correcting or strengthening what has been said: Ti mando un messaggio, anzi ti chiamo.^[4][5][17]

Adverb

1. (literary) Before, earlier; now mainly in poc'anzi “a short while ago”.^[4][16][6]

Preposition

1. (literary) Before (in time).^[4][5][17]
2. (archaic) In front of; compared with.^[4][5][6]

Word family

• anziché
• anzitutto
• anzitempo
• anzidetto
• dianzi

Related words

• ante
• anti
• innanzi
• dinanzi
• avanti
• anziano
• Old French ainz

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ 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
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 236
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 2, 1652
12. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 532
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli