costì

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *eccum istīc, from eccum (“here he is”) and istīc (“there, where you are”), with the first syllable of the first word lost.^[1][2][3][4] It was formed together with costà, from *eccum istāc.^[2][3] The first part is the same deictic word as ecco, the only regular continuation of that Latin word in the Romance languages.^[3][5] The OLD explains it as ecce combined, probably, with a form of hic (“this”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Tuscan Tristano Riccardiano of the late 13th century, with the sense “in that place”, near the person spoken to.^[7] DELI and GRADIT date it to Dante, whose Inferno has E tu che se' costì, anima viva, / pàrtiti da cotesti che son morti “and you who are there, living soul, depart from those who are dead”.^[2][4][8]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian had the phrases costì ritto “right there” and di costì “in that place”.^[7] In Dante the damned pope asks se' tu già costì ritto, Bonifazio? “are you already standing there, Boniface?”.^[9] In northern texts the word could also mean simply “there”, with no reference to the listener.^[7]

Today costì is Tuscan or literary.^[10][8][11] It differs from costà in pointing to a place nearer the listener, and it can reinforce codesto (codesto costì), a use that outside Tuscany is only jocular.^[10][11][12]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – First record, in the Tuscan Tristano Riccardiano.^[7]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses costì in the Divine Comedy.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (Tuscany, literary) there: in that place, where the person spoken to is, with verbs of rest and of motion: che cosa stai facendo costì?^[4][11][12]
2. (Tuscany) Used to reinforce codesto: passami codesto costì.^[12][10]

Related words

• costà
• codesto
• ecco
• Latin istīc

Usage notes

Di costì means “from there, from where you are”.^[8][13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 142
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
8. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
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. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli