ce

Forms

ce (unstressed; older literary cel “ce lo” and cen “ce ne”)^[2]

Etymology

It is the form ci takes before the unstressed pronouns ⟨lo⟩, ⟨la⟩, ⟨li⟩, ⟨le⟩ and the particle ⟨ne⟩, both as the pronoun “us, to us” and as the adverb “there”.^[3][4][5] Tommaseo compared it with me and te in the same position.^[6] Its origin is therefore that of ⟨ci⟩: according to DELI it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *hīcce, a spoken form of Latin hīc (“here”), while Fassò, Nocentini and others prefer the phrase *ecce hīc (“look here”).^[7][8][1] The adverb of place took on the value of the first person plural, as vi did for the second.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first records of the form ce are in Jacopone da Todi, before 1306, as the adverb “in this place” and in the sense “about this”, and in Dante, before 1321, as the pronoun “to us”.^[7][4] In Paradiso 2 Dante writes La concreata e perpetua sete / del deiforme regno cen portava (“the inborn and endless thirst for the godlike realm carried us on”), with cen for ce ne.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Older literary Italian joined the particle to a following lo or ne, as in Boccaccio's cel mostra “shows it to us” and Annibal Caro's cen cale “matters to us”.^[2] Dante could still use ce as a direct object, which is now obsolete.^[2]

In modern Italian the combinations are fixed: ce lo, ce ne, and the forms written as one word after an imperative, infinitive or gerund (portacelo, parlarcene).^[3][2] In colloquial speech ce with avere is very common (ce l'hai? “have you got it?”).^[2][10] In Rome it is also a reinforcing particle with no meaning of its own.^[1]

Timeline

• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses ce as an adverb.^[7]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it as a pronoun.^[7]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. To us, us, before lo, la, li, le and ne: ce l'ha spiegato la maestra, raccontacelo.^[3][4][2]
2. In reflexive verbs of the first person plural: ce ne siamo accorti tardi.^[2]

Adverb

1. there, here, before the same pronouns: la chiave? ce l'ho lasciata io.^[3][4][10]
2. (colloquial) With no meaning of place, especially with avere and volerci: ce l'hai una penna?, ce ne vuole di coraggio.^[2][10]
3. (Rome) Reinforcing particle.^[1]

Related words

• ci
• vi
• ne
• Latin hic

Usage notes

Ce is also an old and regional name of the letter c, usually called ci.^[4][3] Ce is the chemical symbol of cerium.^[3][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
6. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli