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frattempo

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word frattempo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
before 1529, Da Porto
Ultimate origin
Italian fra,tempo
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin infra
Italian fra
Italian frattempo
From the same root
Latin inferius ← infra

Pronunciation

  • /fratˈtɛm.po/[1]

Forms

frattempo m (uncountable)[1]

Etymology

It is a compound, from Italian fra (“between”) + tempo (“time”), made from an older phrase with the words written separately.[2][3][4][1] Wiktionary compares French entretemps, also literally “between time”.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is from Da Porto, before 1529, in the phrases in questo frattempo, in quel frattempo and nel frattempo, “meanwhile, in the time between”.[2][3] Sabatini–Coletti dates the word to the 14th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

The noun is used almost only in these phrases.[2][6][7] The GDLI quotes Verri, Manzoni, Nievo and Gadda;[8] Manzoni writes in the Promessi sposi that many important things had happened in questo frattempo.[8]

Timeline

  • 14th century – Date given by Sabatini–Coletti.[5]
  • Before 1529 – Da Porto uses the word.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The meantime, the time between two moments or events, used only in phrases: nel frattempo, in quel frattempo, meanwhile: Tu compra il pane, nel frattempo io apparecchio.[4][6][7]

Usage notes

The word occurs in the singular only, and in practice only in nel frattempo and the less common in questo frattempo and in quel frattempo, all meaning frattanto or intanto.[4][5][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
Cite this entry

“Frattempo.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/frattempo. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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