Etymologically
Log in

da

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 18:36. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /da/[1]
  • Tuscany, traditional: /da/[1]

Forms

da[1] With the definite article it forms dal, dallo, dalla, dai, dagli and dalle.[2][3] Old Italian forms include dad before a vowel, and in old spelling the consonant of a following pronoun was doubled, as in dallui.[4][5] The old Logudorese forms are dava and dave.[6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dē (“from, down from”) joined to ab (“from, away from”), prepositions that both expressed motion away from a place.[7][8][9][4][10] Nocentini sees in it the strengthening of short prepositions that is common in the Romance languages.[8] The LEI explains it by the weakening of the separative sense of “ab” in Late Latin, after it had merged in sound with ad (“to”) in about the 6th century, and compares the strengthening of ex (“out of”) with “dē” in Gaul and Hispania.[9]

The combination is written in Latin texts long before Italian ones: DELI finds it in a document of 720 at Lucca,[7] DEI cites Medieval Latin ⟨da⟩ in Italy in 822 and ⟨daba⟩ in 974,[6] and the LEI cites ⟨de ab⟩ in an 8th-century manuscript of the Formulae Andecavenses and ⟨dab⟩ at Teramo in 991.[9] The old Logudorese dabe and dave keep the ⟨b⟩, while Italian ⟨da⟩ goes back to a form without it, in the same way that Sardinian ⟨ave⟩ stands beside Italian a.[9][8] The same preposition is Sardinian dae and Romansh da.[11][9]

Diez proposed Latin “dē” with “ad” instead, and Gabrielli gives both bases.[4][12] The TLIO rejects this, since it does not account for the meanings of the preposition and has no support in dialect or documentary evidence,[4] but Nocentini accepts a later and more local fusion of “dē” and “ad”, which gave a variant Old Italian dad that merged with ⟨da⟩.[8] Wiktionary derives the sense “at someone's place” from unde (“whence”) with “ad”,[1] and Devoto explains the uses in ⟨casa da affittare⟩ “house to let” as a crossing of di and ⟨a⟩.[13] Latin “dē” goes back through Proto-Italic *dē (“from”) to Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ (“towards”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's earliest Italian record is the 10th-century Glossario di Monza.[4] In a running text the LEI's first example is the Umbrian confession formula of about 1080, where the preposition marks motion from a place.[9]

Semantic evolution

The sense of origin and derivation is recorded from 1249 in Pier della Vigna.[9] The senses of rest and motion at or to a place, as in stava da sua madre “he was at his mother's” and andava da sua madre “he went to his mother's”, came from the verbs of motion that the preposition followed;[8] the LEI notes that at first they were limited to northern Italy and Tuscany, and treats them as a secondary type.[9] Before modern surnames, da with a place of birth served as a name, as in Leonardo da Vinci.[10][14]

With an infinitive, da came to express purpose, fitness and necessity (cose da fare “things to do”), and with a noun the quality or use of something.[4][10] In the 20th century da with a name became the usual sign of a restaurant or bar (Da Massimo); Marino Moretti recalled that teachers took it for a Gallicism modelled on French chez.[15] Compounds such as dabbene and dabbasso grew out of phrases with da.[13]

Timeline

  • 720 – The combination is written in a Latin document from Lucca.[7]
  • 822 – Medieval Latin da is recorded in Italy.[6]
  • 974 – Medieval Latin daba is recorded.[6]
  • 991 – Dab appears in a Latin text from Teramo.[9]
  • 10th century – The Glossario di Monza has da.[4]
  • c. 1080 – The Umbrian confession formula uses da for motion from a place.[9]
  • 1249 – Pier della Vigna uses da for origin and derivation.[9]

Meanings

Preposition

  1. from, marking motion from a place: È appena tornato da Parigi.[10][2][14]
  2. From, of origin or source: Ho saputo la notizia da un collega.[10][14]
  3. From, of separation or distance: Abita a dieci chilometri dal mare.[10][12]
  4. From, with a, marking the start of a passage or range: da lunedì a venerdì.[10][2]
  5. since, for, of time: Studio l'inglese da tre anni.[10][14][1]
  6. by, introducing the agent or cause with a passive verb: Il quadro fu dipinto da un allievo di Raffaello.[3][4][1]
  7. With, from, of cause: Piangeva dalla rabbia.[3][1]
  8. At or to someone's house, shop or office: Stasera ceniamo da Luca.[3][12][1]
  9. Through, by way of: Per andare a Roma siamo passati da Firenze.[12]
  10. For, marking purpose or use: scarpe da ginnastica, occhiali da sole.[14][1]
  11. With, marking a quality: un uomo dalla barba bianca.[3][1]
  12. Like, as, in the manner of; at the age of: Si è comportato da vero amico. Da bambino viveva in campagna.[10][1]
  13. Worth, costing: una moneta da due euro.[3][1]
  14. With an infinitive, marking necessity, purpose or result: Ho molto da studiare. Era così stanco da non reggersi in piedi.[12][1]

Word family

  • dabbene
  • dabbasso

Usage notes

Da is elided only in a few fixed phrases such as d'ora in poi, d'altra parte and d'altronde.[16][3] It is not to be confused with dà “gives”, from dare, which carries an accent.[1][14] In measurement da is also the symbol of the prefix deca-, “ten times”.[10][14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  5. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1201
  7. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  8. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 1
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  12. ^ a b c d e Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  13. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 129
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  16. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse