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già

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Pronunciation

Forms

già (invariable)[2] The TLIO records many Old Italian forms, among them northern Old Italian za, Old Italian ça and Old Italian ja, and Tuscan giae.[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin iam (“now, already”).[5][6][2][1] The word is common to most of the Romance languages: French ja, Occitan ja, Catalan ja, Spanish ya, Portuguese já and Sardinian ja, with Friulian dza, but it is missing in Romanian and in southern Italy.[6][7][8] It is also found in compounds: digià, like Old French desja, the source of French déjà.[7] GDLI calls the Italian word semi-learned.[4]

The Latin adverb belongs to a small group in ⟨-am⟩, rare outside Latin, built on the pronoun stem ⟨i-⟩ of Latin is (“he, that”) on the model of tam and quam.[5][9][10] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₁i-h₂-m, an accusative “this”, and explains the adverb as originally meaning “as far as this is concerned”, hence “now”.[11] Nocentini compares formations in other branches: Gothic 𐌾𐌿 (ju, “now”) and Lithuanian jaũ (“already”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Raimbaut de Vaqueiras's Contrasto, about 1190, in Genoese.[3] DELI's first record of the main sense, an action completed or under way, is in Guittone d'Arezzo before 1294, which GRADIT and Nocentini follow;[5][2][6] GDLI quotes Guittone's line on an “onorata sua ricca grandezza”, whose worth “è già tutto perito” (has already all perished).[4]

Semantic evolution

Its use to express assurance, irony or doubt is recorded even earlier than the temporal sense, in Giacomo da Lentini before 1250.[5] In Old Italian già could also reinforce a negation (“in no way, not at all”), as non già still does, and serve as an adversative “yet, nevertheless”.[3] The sense “by now” is in Boccaccio (1348–1353) and “from now on” in Giordano da Pisa before 1311.[5]

Before a noun già marks a former title or name, a use DELI dates to Davila in 1630 but finds much earlier in Petrarch's “al cor già mio” (to the heart once mine).[5] The narrative già of the old tales survives in literature, as in Boccaccio's “in Firenze fu già un giovane”.[12][13] The rare già... già... “now... now” comes from Spanish.[5] Modern Italian also uses già alone as a reply, “yes, indeed”, often with irony.[2][12][1]

Timeline

  • c. 1190 – Raimbaut de Vaqueiras's Contrasto has the word in its Genoese lines.[3]
  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses it to express assurance.[5]
  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses it of a completed action.[5]
  • Before 1311 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for “from now on”.[5]
  • Before 1342 – Giacché “since” is recorded in Domenico Cavalca.[5]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it for “by now”.[5]
  • 1630 – Enrico Caterino Davila uses it before a former title.[5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. already: of something that has happened or is happening sooner than expected: sei già arrivato?.[2][13][14]
  2. Before now, previously: questo libro l'ho già letto.[2][13][15]
  3. By now, at this point: è già buio.[14][15][5]
  4. From now on, from this moment: già mi immagino la sua faccia.[2][16]
  5. Before a noun or name, former, formerly: il palazzo, già sede del comune.[2][12][1]
  6. As a reply, yes, indeed, sometimes ironic: «Fa freddo, eh?» «Già.».[2][12][15]
  7. As an intensifier, and with non in correlations: non già per me, ma per voi.[2][1]

Word family

  • giacché
  • giammai
  • digià

Usage notes

Di già is a stronger form, used especially in questions and exclamations of surprise: di già?.[12][16][15] In Tuscan già causes doubling of the next consonant, which shows in the spelling of giammai.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  4. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1801
  9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 201
  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. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  15. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  16. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli