Etymologically
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ci

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Pronunciation

Forms

ci (unstressed, ce before lo, la, li, le and ne; elided c’ before e and i)[2][3][4]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.[5][1] According to DELI and Gabrielli it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *hīcce, a spoken form of classical Latin hīc (“here”);[5][6] Devoto analyses it in the same way, as ⟨hic⟩ with the reinforcing suffix ⟨-ce⟩, which is found clearly only in the Italic languages.[7] GRADIT, Sabatini and Nocentini start instead from the Vulgar Latin phrase *ecce hīc (“look here”),[8][3][9] the source Rohlfs and von Wartburg also preferred,[1] and Treccani from Late Latin hīce.[10] Martin Maiden doubts the phrase with ecce, because the particle is unstressed, while Latin ⟨hic⟩ survives in Italian only in stressed forms such as ciò, qua and qui, which cause syntactic doubling of the next consonant where the particle does not; he proposes hince, a variant of hinc (“from here”), pointing to a southern first-person plural pronoun ⟨'nci⟩.[1] The word is related in any case to Neapolitan ce and Sicilian cci.[1]

The adverb of place “here” took on the value of the first person plural “us, to us”, and in some regional varieties also of the third person singular.[9] Körting compares the way vi, from ibi (“there”), took the place of Latin vōs.[11] Latin hīc is a petrified locative of the demonstrative hic (“this”), which de Vaan traces to the deictic stem Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰe/o- and the particle *-ḱe (“here”).[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adverb “here, through this place” is first found in the Ritmo laurenziano at the end of the 12th century.[5] The pronoun “us” is recorded in 1211, in a Florentine account book.[5][8]

Semantic evolution

With essere the adverb forms esserci “to be there, exist”: c'è, ci sono.[8][3] In older literary Italian it also went with impersonal avere, as in Bembo's De' Ciciliani poco altro testimonio ci ha (“Of the Sicilians there is little other evidence”).[3] In colloquial Italian it reinforces avere and verbs of perception (non ci vedo, “I can't see”), a use that has produced spellings such as c'ho beside the standard ci ho.[2][4]

In the 17th century Sforza Pallavicino criticised writers, especially Lombards, who put si where ci “us” was meant.[13] In popular and dialect speech ci also stands for “to him, to her, to them”.[8][10][9]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – The Ritmo laurenziano has the adverb “here”.[5]
  • 1211 – The pronoun “us” appears in a Florentine account book.[5][8]
  • 1955 – Ci is recorded as the name of a group of African languages.[8]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. us, as a direct object: Ci hanno invitati a cena.[8][14][6]
  2. To us, as an indirect object: Ci mandi una cartolina?[8][14]
  3. In reflexive and reciprocal verbs of the first person plural: ci alziamo presto, ci scriviamo spesso.[8][14][6]
  4. Before impersonal si, for “one”: qui ci si annoia.[8][14]
  5. About it, on it, in it, referring to a thing or idea: Ci rifletto stanotte.[8][14][10]
  6. (colloquial) With him, with her, with them: Ci esco da un mese.[8][10]
  7. (popular, regional) To him, to her, to them.[8][10]

Adverb

  1. here, there, in or to the place mentioned: Ci torno l'anno prossimo.[8][2][3]
  2. With essere, “to be there, exist” (esserci): c'è ancora del pane.[8][3][10]
  3. Through here, through there: Di qui ci passa il tram.[8][2]
  4. (colloquial) Reinforcing avere and verbs of perception: ci ho sete, non ci sento bene.[2][10]

Word family

  • esserci
  • volerci
  • eccoci

Usage notes

Before lo, la, li, le and ne it becomes ce, by assimilation to their vowel: ce lo dici?, ce ne andiamo.[9][2] It precedes si and se ne (ci si sente domani).[14]

Ci is also the name of the letter ⟨c⟩, from Latin cē;[8][1] the Latin names of the stops were the consonant followed by a long e, a pattern that came from Etruscan.[1] As an adjective and noun ci names a family of African languages spoken in Ghana (1955).[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  4. ^ a b Canepari, Luciano, DiPI: Dizionario di pronuncia italiana, online ed., dipionline.it
  5. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 92
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  9. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 1, 1410
  14. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli