Etymologically
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attimo

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈat.ti.mo/[1]

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
  • 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