avanti

Forms

avanti (invariable)^[1] The old and poetic form is avante, used by Giacomo da Lentini, Dante and Pulci.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin abante (“in front, before”), formed from ab (“from”) and ante (“before”).^[2][5][6][7] The Late Latin word is recorded from the 2nd century, in the Old Latin Bible, and was used above all by Christian writers as a strengthened ⟨ante⟩.^[8][9][10] The grammarian Placidus condemned it: “Ante me fugit dicimus non abante me” (we say ⟨ante me fugit⟩, not ⟨abante me⟩).^[11]

The word continues in French avant, Occitan aban and Catalan abans, and in an old Romanian ainte;^[8][5][10] Spanish and Portuguese ⟨avante⟩ came from Catalan, and the word is missing in Sardinian and not native in southern Italy.^[8][5][10] Devoto explains the final ⟨-i⟩ as the usual Italian ending of weakly stressed words.^[12]

davanti continues a Latin ⟨de ab ante⟩.^[5] French ⟨avantage⟩ gave Italian vantaggio.^[10][8] De Vaan traces ⟨ab⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“away”) and ⟨ante⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *h₂enti, a locative of a noun meaning “front”.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record of the adverb is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur of the last quarter of the 12th century.^[14] DELI's first record is avante before 1250 in Giacomo da Lentini, for position in front;^[2] GDLI quotes him: “e par ch'eo v'agia avante” (and it seems I have you before me).^[11] The form avanti is in Brunetto Latini before 1294: “mi trassi più avanti” (I drew further forward).^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

The command avanti! “forward!” is in Boccaccio about 1336, and the temporal sense “before” in 1353.^[2] Old Italian also used avanti for “rather, instead” and avanti che for “before” and “rather than”.^[14][15] From the 16th century the learned ante-/anti- and the French avan- partly replaced avanti- in compounds, and avantieri “the day before yesterday” matches French avant-hier.^[8]

In modern Italian avanti! is the usual answer to a knock at the door, and avanti Cristo “before Christ” (abbreviated a.C.) dates the years before the Christian era.^[6][7] Phrases include andare avanti “to go on”, tirare avanti “to scrape by”, mettere le mani avanti “to cover oneself in advance” and d'ora in avanti “from now on”.^[16][4] English borrowed the interjection avanti in 1814.^[17]

Timeline

• Last quarter of the 12th century – The Proverbia que dicuntur have the adverb.^[14]
• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses avante.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses avanti.^[2]
• c. 1336 – Boccaccio uses avanti! as a command to move forward.^[2][17]
• 1353 – Boccaccio uses avanti for “before”.^[2]
• 1814 – English avanti is recorded.^[17]

Meanings

Adverb

1. forward, ahead, in front: Fai due passi avanti.^[6][18][1]
2. Further on in time; in d'ora in avanti, più avanti, from now on, later: Ne parleremo più avanti.^[18][7][15]
3. (literary) Before, earlier: Dovevi dirmelo avanti.^[6][16][15]
4. Well on, advanced; of a clock, fast: Il mio orologio è avanti di cinque minuti.^[6][18]

Interjection

1. come in!, in answer to a knock; also forward!, go on!, and next!^[6][1][7]

Adjective

1. (after a noun) Previous, before: la sera avanti.^[6][4][1]

Preposition

1. Before (in time); avanti Cristo, before Christ, (uncommon) in front of.^[6][7]

Word family

• davanti
• avantieri

Related words

• avanzare
• vantaggio
• davanzale
• innanzi
• Late Latin abante

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 88
4. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 10
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 376
10. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 50
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. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
15. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
18. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier