giammai

Etymology

It is formed from Italian già + mai, the second adverb made stronger by the first.^[2][3][4][1] Nocentini describes it as a Romance formation from Latin iam (“now, already”) and magis (“more”), at first an intensive, which became negative beside a negation.^[5] The same formation is French jamais, Occitan jamais, Spanish jamás and Portuguese jamais;^[5][1][6] DEI dates the French word to the 11th century.^[5][1][6]

The Latin adverb is probably an old accusative of the pronoun is, “as far as this is concerned”, hence “now”.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, from the last quarter of the 12th century.^[4] In 13th-century poetry, in Chiaro Davanzati and in Dante, già mai meant both “never again” and “ever”, and the Rimatori of the 13th century also used it for “at times”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old texts wrote the adverb in two words; the spelling giammai is recorded before 1348 in Francesco da Barberino.^[2] L. Salviati observed that prose books mostly joined the words while the printed poets separated them.^[9]

The positive sense “ever, at some time” is in Dante's Or fu già mai / gente sì vana come la Sanese? “Was there ever a people so vain as the Sienese?” and in Petrarch.^[3][9][10] It has given way to the negative sense, “never”, now literary or used in emphatic or joking replies: Giammai!^[3][10][11]

Timeline

• 1175–1200 – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur has the word.^[4]
• Before 1257 – Zingarelli's date for già mai.^[12]
• 13th century – Chiaro Davanzati and Dante use già mai for “never again” and “ever”.^[2]
• Before 1348 – Francesco da Barberino writes giammai as one word.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (literary) never, at no time; a stronger mai: Non tradirò giammai la vostra fiducia.^{[3][10][13][12]}
2. (emphatic, humorous) In replies: never!, not on your life!^{[10][12][11][3]}
3. (archaic) At some time, ever; sometimes.^{[3][10][13][11]}
4. (obsolete) By now.^[12][14]

Related words

• già
• mai
• French jamais
• Spanish jamás

Usage notes

The older spelling is già mai.^[10][13][11] The doubled m reflects the doubling of the consonant after già in speech.^[15] Forms in the oldest texts include Old Italian giamai, Old Italian çamai, Old Italian ciamai and Old Italian gemai.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1803
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 765
10. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana