dietro

Forms

dietro (invariable)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian drieto, Old Italian dreto, Old Italian dirieto and Old Italian dereto.^[2][3] In the northern dialects it is Lombard dree and Venetian drio.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin dē retrō (“behind”), a Late Latin phrase recorded in the Itala, the old Latin translation of the Bible, formed from dē (“from”) and retrō (“backwards, behind”).^[4][5][3][6]

The older forms show how it developed: Old Italian dereto and dirieto keep both /r/ sounds, the standard form lost the first by dissimilation, and drieto and dreto show metathesis.^[3][7] Devoto and DEI start from an intermediate *drietro.^[8][6]

The same phrase gave Old French derere, modern French derrière, Old Occitan dereire and Catalan darrera.^[3][5][9] DEI notes that the southern dialects took the French word, beside a native type continuing Latin ad and retrō.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record of the preposition is in Bono Giamboni, before 1292, for “at the back of” and “behind someone”; the adverb follows in Dante.^[4] Giamboni describes an army: “Il sesto ordine di dietro da tutti erano uomini, finissimi combattitori con scudi” (the sixth rank, behind all the others, were men, very fine fighters with shields).^[10] Nocentini and GRADIT date the adverb to the second half of the 13th century.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

The temporal sense “after” is in Giovanni Villani before 1348.^[4] In older Italian the preposition could take da, as in Dante's “dietro dalla coppa” (behind the nape), and Guittone d'Arezzo writes the form dirieto.^[11][10][2] Modern usage adds a bureaucratic sense, “upon, in return for”, as in dietro pagamento and dietro richiesta, and uses the word as an invariable adjective and as a noun for the back of something.^[7][11]

The derivatives are old: addietro is recorded in 1252–1258, indietro, from a Vulgar Latin phrase with in, in 1304–1308, and didietro “backside” in the second half of the 14th century.^[5] Dietrofront, the military about-turn, is recorded before 1906, and dietrologia, the habit of looking for hidden motives behind events, before 1974.^[5]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – Addietro is recorded.^[5]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses dietro as a preposition.^[4]
• 1304–1308 – Indietro is recorded.^[5]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses dietro as an adverb.^[4]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for “after”.^[4]
• Before 1974 – Dietrologia is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Preposition

1. behind, at the back of; also with a, and with di before a stressed pronoun: Il gatto si è nascosto dietro il divano.^[7][11][12]
2. After, following, in space or time: Ha fatto una telefonata dietro l'altra.^[7][11]
3. (figurative) Behind someone's back, without their knowledge: Non mi piace chi critica gli altri dietro le spalle.^[7]
4. (bureaucratic) Upon, in return for: Il modulo viene consegnato dietro richiesta.^[7][11]

Adverb

1. Behind, at the back: In macchina i bambini stanno dietro.^[7][12]
2. (colloquial) With oneself, along: Ti sei portato dietro l'ombrello?^[1]

Adjective

1. (invariable) Rear, back: i sedili dietro.^[7]

Noun

1. The back or rear part of something, such as the seat of trousers.^[7][1]

Word family

• indietro
• addietro
• didietro
• dietrologia
• indietreggiare

Related words

• retro
• deretano
• French derrière

Usage notes

With an unstressed pronoun the word follows the verb: tutti gli corrono dietro.^[11][12] Phrases include andare dietro a qualcuno “to court someone”, stare dietro a qualcosa “to look after something” and ridere dietro a qualcuno “to laugh at someone behind their back”.^[11] Wiktionary gives the pronunciation with both an open and a closed /e/: /ˈdjɛ.tro/ and /ˈdje.tro/.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 376
3. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 1322
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1295
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 4, 367
11. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse