Etymologically
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dunque

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *dunquam, a blend of Late Latin dunc (“then”) with Latin unquam (“ever”).[1][2] The Late Latin adverb, found in inscriptions of the imperial period, is itself explained as dum (“while; still”) reshaped after the pair tum and tunc (“then”).[3][4][5] Nocentini calls the word a Romance formation of Latin origin and sees the ending lined up with the adverbs in “-unque”, as Devoto does.[4][6] Wiktionary adds that the final /-e/ may continue an older form with the adverbial /-s/ seen in Middle French doncques.[1]

The same adverb is French donc, Occitan adonc, Catalan donques and Sardinian duncas.[4][7][8] Körting warns against confusing it with Latin dōnique, an older form of dōnec (“until”), though Latin used that word as an adverb meaning “then” as well.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Ritmo cassinese, from the early 13th century.[2] DELI's first example of the sense “therefore” is dunca in Stefano Protonotaro, early in the same century, who concludes that every lover ought to sing well: dunca ben di’ cantari onni amaduri.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian wrote the word in many shapes: donca, donqua, donque, dunca, dunqua, dunche and others.[2] Guittone d'Arezzo used donque and Dante dunque, while the longer adunque of Dante is now literary and dunche survived in rural Tuscan speech.[9][3] Besides drawing a conclusion, the word introduced an exhortation, in Guittone before 1294 and in Dante, and Boccaccio used it in 1353 to take up a story again.[3][2]

Ugo Foscolo turned it into a noun in 1809, “the conclusion, the heart of the matter”, which lives on in venire al dunque, to come to the point.[3][10] In the spoken language it also fills a pause at the start of an answer while the speaker thinks.[11] Sabatini–Coletti cite penso, dunque sono, the Italian form of Descartes' cogito, ergo sum.[12]

Timeline

  • Early 13th century – The Ritmo cassinese has the first record.[2]
  • Early 13th century – Stefano Protonotaro writes dunca “therefore”.[3]
  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses donque to urge his readers.[3]
  • 1304–1308 – Dante writes dunque in the Convivio.[3]
  • 1353 – Boccaccio uses it to resume a narrative.[3]
  • 1809 – Foscolo uses dunque as a noun, “the crux”.[3]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. therefore, so: draws a conclusion from what has been said: Ha piovuto tutta la notte, dunque il campo è fangoso.[10][11][13]
  2. well, so: resumes, opens or closes a stretch of talk: Dunque, dove eravamo rimasti?[10][14][15]
  3. In questions and exclamations, urges someone on or shows impatience: Dunque, ti muovi? e dunque? means “so what?”.[10][11][13]

Noun

  1. (invariable) The crux, the decisive point of a matter, mostly in venire al dunque (to come to the point) and essere al dunque (to have reached the moment of decision).[10][13][14]

Word family

  • adunque

Usage notes

In Tuscan texts from Siena and the west of Tuscany between 1280 and the 14th century, dunque is also a variant of dovunque “wherever”, a separate word recorded in the Sienese statutes of 1280–1297.[2][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 395
  10. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  11. ^ 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
  12. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  16. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1401