Etymologically
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così

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Pronunciation

  • /koˈzi/[1]
  • Traditional: /koˈsi/[1]

Forms

così[1] Old Italian also had cusì (13th century).[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *eccum sīc, a strengthened form of Latin sīc (“so, thus”) with eccum (“here he is, behold”).[3][4][5][1] By surface analysis it is ecco + sì.[1] Latin ⟨eccum⟩ was a contraction of ecce (“behold”) and probably an old accusative of hic (“this”).[6]

Close parallels are Dalmatian coisa, Friulian cussì, Venetian cusì, Sicilian accussì and Sardinian gósi.[1] The other Romance languages strengthened the Latin adverb differently: Old French ensi, modern French ainsi, comes from ⟨in sic⟩ and Occitan aissi from ⟨ac sic⟩, while Spanish así took an ⟨a-⟩ from the demonstratives, the initial of a Vulgar Latin *accum beside ⟨*eccum⟩.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the temporal use with quando (as soon as), in the Ritmo lucchese of the early 13th century.[4] Nocentini, GRADIT and Sabatini–Coletti also date the word to the 13th century.[3][5][7] Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, already uses it for “in this way”, “so much” and “therefore”, and in comparisons with come.[4]

Semantic evolution

Beside “in this way”, Old Italian used così for “to such a degree that” (1304, Giordano da Pisa) and “although” (1348–1353, Boccaccio).[4] Dante has “Che li pesi / fan così cigolar le lor bilance” (whose weights make their scales creak so, Inferno 23).[8]

Compounds grew from it: cosicché “so that” (about 1300), cosiffatto “such” (written separately in Dante, 1304–1308, and as one word in 1865) and cosiddetto “so-called”, written separately in a Milan newspaper of 1802 and as one word by Croce in 1936.[4][3] The doubled così così means “so-so”, often with a rocking gesture of the hand.[9]

French borrowed the doubled form as coussi coussi (1648), the modern couci-couça.[2]

Timeline

  • Early 13th century – Così with quando in the Ritmo lucchese.[4]
  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses così for “in this way” and “so much”.[4]
  • About 1300 – Cosicché “so that” is first recorded.[4][3]
  • 1304 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for “to such a degree that”.[4]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for “although”.[4]
  • 1648 – French coussi coussi is recorded.[2]
  • 1802 – Così detto in a Milan newspaper, cosiddetto as one word follows in 1936.[4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. so, thus, in this way, in that way: non si fa così, così va meglio.[5][10][7]
  2. With a gesture, describing size or shape: un pesce lungo così.[5][9][11]
  3. To such a degree, so: sei così stanco?, è così tardi![9][12]
  4. così così: so-so, neither good nor bad: l'esame è andato così così.[9][11]
  5. Strengthening pure or anche: likewise: lui ha accettato e così pure il fratello.[5][9]

Conjunction

  1. So, therefore: pioveva, così siamo rimasti a casa.[9][12][7]
  2. In comparisons with come: come semini, così raccogli.[7][12]
  3. così … che, così … da: so … that: era così buio che non vedevo nulla.[5][9]

Adjective

  1. (invariable, after a noun) Such, like that: un'occasione così non torna.[12][1]

Word family

  • cosicché
  • cosiddetto
  • cosiffatto
  • cosà

Usage notes

Common phrases are e così via (and so on), basta così! (that's enough), per così dire (so to speak) and e così sia (amen, so be it).[5][9][11] Wiktionary gives the pronunciation /koˈzi/ beside the traditional /koˈsi/.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1130
  3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli