come

Forms

come^[1] Old forms include como and, before a consonant, com, com’ and con’.^[2][3][4] Bolognese has cmod.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin quōmo, a Late Latin shortening of Latin quōmodo (“in what way, how”), recorded from the 2nd–3rd century.^{[6][7][3][8][5]} Wiktionary notes that forms without ⟨d⟩ are securely attested from the middle of the 1st century AD, through rapid speech or a new division of the word.^[1] The final ⟨-e⟩ is explained in several ways: Nocentini, DEI, Devoto–Oli and Treccani take it from the conjunction et (“and”), used to introduce the second term of a comparison in a phrase ⟨quōmo et⟩ recorded in the 3rd century.^[7][5][2][9] The GDLI thinks the analogy of the adverbs in ⟨-e⟩ more likely, though it allows for ⟨quōmo et⟩,^[10] and Devoto points to the ending of dove.^[11] The older outcome without ⟨-e⟩ survives in Old Italian como.^[3][7]

The word is panromance: Old French com, later French comme, Occitan com, Catalan com, Spanish como, Portuguese como, Sardinian comente and Romanian cum.^[7][12] DEI and REW set French ⟨comme⟩ and Old Logudorese ⟨coe⟩, with the added vowel, against ⟨com⟩ and ⟨co⟩,^[5][12] and Provençal ⟨coma⟩ and Neapolitan comma seem to go back to ⟨quōmo⟩ with ac (“and”).^[10][5] With the ending of the adverbs in ⟨-mente⟩ the word gave French comment and Sardinian ⟨komenti⟩.^[12]

Latin “quōmodo” is the ablative of the pronoun quī (“which”) joined to the ablative of modus (“manner, way”).^[13][1][3] The pronoun belongs to the stem Proto-Indo-European *kʷi-, which also gave chi.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are of the 12th century: con in Girardo Patecchio, for “in the manner of”, and commo at the end of the century in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, for “in what way”.^[6][14] Patecchio writes Sì con' se trova scrito en Proverbi (“as it is found written in Proverbs”).^[10] The form come first appears before 1250 in Giacomo da Lentini.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the word extended from comparison and manner to other relations: “as soon as, when” before 1276 in Guido Guinizelli, “in the capacity of” before 1292 in Bono Giamboni, and “since, as” before 1342 in Domenico Cavalca.^[6] As a noun, “the manner, the way”, it appears as como before 1306 in Iacopone da Todi and as come before 1313 in Cecco Angiolieri.^[6] Dante builds his similes with it: E come quei che con lena affannata / uscito fuor del pelago alla riva (“And as one who, with labouring breath, has come out of the sea to the shore”, Inferno 1.22).^[10]

Compounds include comecché and comunque,^[15] and eccome, from the phrase e come, is recorded in 1840–1842.^[7] Set expressions are many: come mai? “how come?”, come no! “of course!”, come Dio vuole “somehow or other”.^[16][4]

Timeline

• 12th century – Girardo Patecchio uses con “in the manner of”.^[6]
• Late 12th century – The Ritmo di Sant'Alessio uses commo “in what way”.^[6][14]
• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses the form come.^[6]
• Before 1276 – Guido Guinizelli uses it for “as soon as”.^[6]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for “in the capacity of”.^[6]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses the noun como “manner”.^[6]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it for “since”.^[6]
• 1840–1842 – Eccome is first recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Adverb

1. like, as, in comparisons of likeness or identity: Nuota come un pesce.^[14][4][1]
2. how, in direct and indirect questions: Come si arriva alla stazione? Non so come abbia fatto.^[14][2][1]
3. How, in exclamations: Come sei cambiato!^[14][2]
4. As, in the role or capacity of: Lavora come infermiera.^[9][16]
5. Such as, for example: frutti come le pesche e le albicocche.^[1]

Conjunction

1. As, the way that, in clauses of manner: Fai come credi.^[2][14]
2. as soon as, when: Come entrò in casa, squillò il telefono.^[6][1]
3. With se, as if: Mi guardava come se non mi conoscesse.^[9][1]
4. (literary) Since, as, with a causal sense.^[6]

Noun

1. The way, the manner: il come e il perché.^[6][16]

Word family

• eccome
• comecché
• comunque

Related words

• siccome
• così
• chi
• Latin quomodo
• French comme

Usage notes

Come is elided before forms of essere that begin with a stressed e (com'è).^[8] After it, a personal pronoun takes the object form: come me, come te.^[14][3] In Tuscan pronunciation it doubles the consonant that follows it.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
4. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1027
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ 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, p. 3, 348
11. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 103
12. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
15. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
16. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli