attimo

Forms

attimo m (plural attimi)^[1] Old texts also have Old Italian attamo, the form used by Giordano da Pisa, and antomo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin atomus (“atom; moment”), in its popular development, from Ancient Greek ἄτομος (átomos, “indivisible”), and so a doublet of the learned atomo.^{[2][4][5][6][7]} The sense “moment” already existed in Greek and in Late Latin: Late Latin in atomo (“in an instant”), used by Tertullian, renders Ancient Greek ἐν ἀτόμῳ (en atómōi).^[2][4][8][9] The doubled /tt/ and the weakened unstressed vowel are typical of words that passed through popular speech.^[2][10]

DEI thinks the word reached Italian from the Latin of the medieval schools, and notes the same sense in Portuguese átimo, at Salamanca (Spanish átamo) and in Sicilian àtimu.^[9][7] In 13th-century Piacenza Medieval Latin atamos was used for a smallest unit of length;^[2] Alessio took it for a Byzantine Greek word spread from the Exarchate of Ravenna.^[2] Devoto suggested that the Latin word was influenced by Latin optimus.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Giordano da Pisa's Lenten sermons of 1306, in the form attamo.^[3][2] The TLIO lists three Old Italian senses: the smallest quantity of something, an indivisible unit of length, and a very short span of time.^[3] The form attimo is first found in Zanobi da Strada before 1364.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Old texts often joined it with ora or tempo: un attimo d'ora, nessun attimo di tempo.^[12] Leonardo still used attimo for a tiny particle before 1519, and Florio's dictionary of 1598 has atimo.^[13]

Today the word means only a very short moment, and colloquially, with the indefinite article, “a little”: spostati un attimo.^[8][14][5] Common phrases are in un attimo (“in a flash”), di attimo in attimo (“at any moment”) and cogliere l'attimo fuggente, to enjoy the fleeting moments of happiness.^[8][5][6] Un attimo! asks someone to wait.^[8] The diminutive attimino has long been mocked by purists.^[2]

Timeline

• 1306 – Giordano da Pisa writes attamo.^[3][2]
• Before 1364 – Zanobi da Strada uses attimo.^[2]
• About 1370 – A Florentine text uses attimo for a tiny particle.^[13]
• 1598 – Florio's dictionary records atimo.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A very short space of time; a moment, an instant: Torno tra un attimo.^[8][14][10]
2. (colloquial, with un) A little, slightly: Aspetta un attimo fuori.^[8][14][5]
3. (obsolete) A tiny particle, an atom.^[15][3]

Word family

• attimino

Related words

• atomo
• Latin atomus

Usage notes

Un attimo! is used to interrupt someone or to ask for a short wait.^[8] Cogliere l'attimo fuggente means to seize the fleeting moment of joy.^[5][14]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 355
10. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 2017
14. ^ 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
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli