Etymologically
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ciò

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Pronunciation

Forms

ciò (invariable, singular only)[2][3] Old forms include cioe and cione.[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ecce hoc (“look, this”), a phrase of Latin ecce (“look!, here is”) and hoc (“this”), the neuter of hic.[6][7][3][1][8] The same phrase gave Old French ço (modern French ce), Catalan açò and southern Italian forms such as Sicilian nzò.[7][1][8] Old French, Occitan and Old Catalan also kept the simple ⟨hoc⟩, as ⟨o⟩.[8]

Latin ⟨ecce⟩ combines Proto-Italic ⟨*ek⟩ and ⟨*ke⟩, built on the pronoun Proto-Indo-European *h₁e- and the particle Proto-Indo-European *-ḱe (“here”).[9] The pronoun ⟨hic⟩ comes from a deictic stem ⟨*ǵʰe/o-⟩, also with ⟨*-ḱe⟩.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Pier della Vigna, before 1249: E faria ciò ch'eo dico “and I would do what I say”, in the sense “this, that thing”.[6][4][3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian ciò could also refer to several things or to persons, especially with essere: Dante writes Vere sustanze son ciò che tu vedi “what you see are real substances” (Paradiso 3), and ciò sono or ciò era meant “that is”.[4][10][11] Combined with other words it formed a series of conjunctions and adverbs: perciò in Dante, acciocché in the Novellino, cioè in Domenico Cavalca.[5][7]

In Tuscany ciò doubles the following consonant.[2]

Timeline

  • Before 1249 – Pier della Vigna uses ciò.[6][4]
  • 13th century – Acciocché is first recorded.[7]
  • 16th century – Sopracciò “overseer” is first recorded.[7]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. This, that (thing), always neuter, often referring to a whole statement: Ciò mi sorprende.[3][12][2]
  2. Followed by the relative che, what, that which: Fai ciò che vuoi.[3][12][10]
  3. In set phrases: con ciò “with that, therefore”, con tutto ciò and ciò nonostante “nevertheless”.[12][10][11]
  4. (archaic) With essere, “that is, namely”, now written cioè.[3][10]

Word family

Usage notes

In Venetian and nearby dialects ciò is an interjection, “look!, listen!”, from the imperative of tor “to take”.[13][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  5. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 294
  6. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 949
  9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ 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
  13. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET