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Etymology and origin of the Italian word dopo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1282, Restoro d'Arezzo
Inherited from
Latin de post
Ultimate origin
Latin dē,post

Pronunciation

  • /ˈdo.po/, /ˈdɔ.po/[1]

Forms

dopo (invariable)[2] Old forms are dopòi and doppo;[3][4][1] doppo is still heard regionally.[3][4][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin dē post (“from after”), from Latin dē (“from”) and post (“after, behind”).[5][6][2][1] The older Italian forms were ⟨dopoi⟩ and ⟨dipoi⟩;[1][6] the ⟨-e-⟩ became ⟨-o-⟩ before the labial consonant, a change not rare in Italian.[5][6][7] Devoto also sees the influence of dove.[8] GDLI explains the stress on the first syllable from the unstressed use of ⟨dopò⟩ before a noun, a Tuscan and southern development that spread through literature.[3]

Similar compounds are Old Spanish depués, whence Spanish después, Portuguese depos (“behind”) and Romanian după.[6] The Latin preposition continues Proto-Italic *posti, from Proto-Indo-European *pos(ti) (“after”);[9] the same word is Oscan púst and Umbrian post, and further afield Lithuanian pas (“at”).[9][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Restoro d'Arezzo's Composizione del mondo (1282), where dopo marks succession in space;[5][2] the preposition of time is in Bono Giamboni before 1292, and GDLI quotes his rule that a knight is to be taught “doppo molte prove d'arme” (after many trials of arms).[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The adverb “later, afterwards” is in Dante before 1321, and the conjunction introducing a clause of time in Dante's Convivio (1304–1308).[5] In Inferno 23 it still means “behind”: “n'andavam l'un dinanzi e l'altro dopo” (we went one in front and the other behind), a sense now literary.[10][2]

In the 19th and 20th centuries dopo formed many compounds: dopodomani (1766 as dopo dimani), dopotutto (1874, after French après tout), doposcuola (1914), dopoguerra (1916, after French après-guerre), dopolavoro (1925), doposcì (1963) and dopobarba (1965–1966, from English after-shave, probably through French).[5]

Timeline

  • 1282 – Restoro d'Arezzo uses dopo of position in space.[5]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it as a preposition of time.[5]
  • 1304–1308 – Dante uses it as a conjunction.[5]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses it as an adverb, “afterwards”.[5]
  • 1766 – Dopo dimani “the day after tomorrow” is recorded in Cesare Beccaria.[5]
  • 1916 – Dopoguerra appears in an article by Romolo Murri.[5]
  • 1965–1966 – Dopobarba is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. afterwards, later, then: prima mangiamo, dopo usciamo.[2][11][7]
  2. Further on, beyond: la farmacia è subito dopo.[2][11]
  3. (literary) Behind.[2][4]

Preposition

  1. after, in time; with di before a personal pronoun: ci vediamo dopo la lezione, è arrivata dopo di me.[2][11][4]
  2. After, beyond, in space or in a series: gira a sinistra dopo il ponte.[2][7]

Conjunction

  1. After, with an infinitive or past participle: dopo aver cenato, siamo andati a letto.[2][4][12]

Adjective

  1. (invariable) Following, next: la volta dopo.[7][4][1]

Noun

  1. (invariable) What comes afterwards, the future; the period after a person or event: preoccuparsi del dopo.[4][12]

Word family

  • dopoché
  • dopodomani
  • dopoguerra
  • dopolavoro
  • dopopranzo
  • doposcuola
  • dopotutto
  • dopobarba
  • doposcì

Usage notes

A dopo! means “see you later”, and uno dopo l'altro “one after another”.[11][10][12] Treccani gives the word a closed /o/;[4] Wiktionary also records an open /ɔ/.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 153
  9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  11. ^ a b c d 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 Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Dopo.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/dopo. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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