desso

Forms

desso (feminine dessa, masculine plural dessi, feminine plural desse)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian deso, Old Italian desa and Old Italian disi.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin id ipsum (“that very thing”), with the loss of the initial vowel.^{[3][4][5][6][1]} DEI calls it an intensive form of esso, and its use as an adjective secondary.^[6] Meyer-Lübke credits the explanation to Rydberg.^[7] Körting also considered idem (“the same”) or ad (“to”) before the pronoun, and the GDLI also starts from that preposition.^[8][9] Latin id is the neuter of Latin is (“he, that”), and the second word is the neuter of Latin ipse (“himself”).^[10][11] Körting compares Romanian dins.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Pietro da Bescapè's Lombard text of 1274, with the sense “that very one, the one spoken of”.^[2] DELI dates the sense “that same one, he himself” to before 1292 in Bono Giamboni.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian desso pointed back to something just mentioned, “the same, the very one”, and could stand for a third-person pronoun; with an article it meant “such a one”.^[2] Its typical use is as the predicate of essere, parere or sembrare: Dante's “this is he, and he does not speak” (Questi è desso, e non favella), Boccaccio's “you don't seem yourself” (Tu non mi par desso) and Petrarch's ell'è ben dessa; ancor è in vita “it is surely she; she is still alive”.^[9][12]

The old Crusca dictionary called it a “pronome asseritivo”, and 19th-century grammarians argued over its correct use.^[9] It is now rare and sounds pedantic or old-fashioned, and is mostly jocular, as in son io quel desso “I am the very man”.^[9][13]

Timeline

• 1274 – Pietro da Bescapè uses desso.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it for “that very one”.^[3]
• 19th century – Grammarians such as Gherardini debate its use.^[9]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. (literary) That very one, he himself, she herself, mainly as the predicate of essere, parere or sembrare: Lo guardai bene: era proprio desso.^{[5][14][15][13]}
2. (literary) With another pronoun or a noun, it reinforces them: quel desso.^[5][15]
3. (literary) He, that person.^[5][15][16]

Related words

• esso
• stesso
• adesso
• Latin ipse

Usage notes

Desso is used with essere, parere and sembrare and never after a preposition.^[9][13]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1264
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b c d e f Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
15. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli