Etymologically
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attorno

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Pronunciation

  • /atˈtor.no/[1]

Forms

attorno[1] Old forms include Old Italian atorno, Old Italian a torno, Old Italian atornu, Old Italian adturnu and Old Italian actornu.[2] The phrase written separately, a torno, survives as a rare literary form.[3][4]

Etymology

It is a phrase meaning “in a circle” written as one word: from Italian a (“to, at”) + torno (“turn, circuit”).[5][6][7][1] Devoto analysed it in the same way.[8] The noun, now obsolete, is derived from tornare, which continues Latin tornō (“to turn on a lathe”), from tornus (“lathe”).[6][7]

On d'attorno, recorded in Dino Compagni (1310–1312), DELI quotes Battaglia's remark that the modern spelling with an apostrophe may be arbitrary in old texts, which wrote it as one word, like daccapo.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Lombard Istoria of the Pseudo-Uguccione, from the first half of the 13th century.[2] DELI and GRADIT date the word to 1282, in Ristoro d'Arezzo, with the sense “around, in a circle”.[5][7]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word meant movement in a circle or something wrapped round an object, then position along the edges of something, the surrounding places, and movement in no fixed direction, “about”.[2] With a it formed the prepositional phrase attorno a “around”, and already before 1375 it could mean “approximately” with numbers and “concerning” a subject.[2] Petrarch writes volgeasi attorno “turned around”, and Boccaccio describes a woman beset by horseflies who kept waving her hands about.[9]

Tommaseo noted that attorno suits movement and intorno rest.[10] Modern dictionaries say that attorno has mostly the same uses as intorno but is preferred with verbs of motion and in set phrases: andare attorno “go about”, guardarsi attorno “look about one, take care”, levarsi d'attorno “get rid of”, darsi d'attorno “bustle about”.[3][4][11]

Timeline

  • First half of the 13th century – The Lombard Istoria of the Pseudo-Uguccione has the first record.[2]
  • 1282 – Ristoro d'Arezzo uses attorno “in a circle”.[5][7]
  • 1310–1312 – D'attorno “in the surrounding places” appears in Dino Compagni.[5]
  • 1861 – Tommaseo distinguishes attorno of motion from intorno of rest.[10]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. around, round about, in a circle: Si guardò attorno prima di entrare.[7][12][3]
  2. Nearby, close to someone, often in a negative sense: avere qualcuno attorno, to have someone always hanging about.[7][11]
  3. After qui, qua, lì, là: in the area around a place: Il bar è qui attorno.[13][12]

Preposition

  1. attorno a: round, around: I bambini correvano attorno alla fontana.[12][3][11]
  2. attorno a: about, approximately, with times and quantities: Arriverò attorno alle nove.[12][3]
  3. attorno a (rare): concerning, on the subject of.[3][2]

Word family

  • attorniare
  • dattorno

Usage notes

Common phrases include andare attorno (to go about; of rumours, to circulate), levarsi or togliersi qualcuno d'attorno (to get rid of someone), darsi d'attorno (to busy oneself) and the repeated attorno attorno, “all around”.[3][4][12]

Old Italian had other words with this spelling: a noun attorno “beauty”, in the Florentine Fiore of the late 13th century, is a loan from Old French ator.[2] An adjective attorno “eternal”, in Francesco da Barberino, is an old popular and dialect form of etterno.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c 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 e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  5. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 48
  9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 828
  10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 815