Etymologically
Log in

lo

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Italian word lo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
late 12th century, Ritmo laurenziano
Inherited from
Latin *illu
Ultimate origin
Latin ille

Pronunciation

Forms

lo m sg (plural gli)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *(il)lu, from Latin ille (“that”) in the accusative ⟨illum⟩, with the first syllable and the final ⟨-m⟩ lost.[2][1][3] The article and the pronoun are the same word.[2][4][5] In some dialects the masculine accusative gave Sicilian lu and only the neuter ⟨illud⟩ gave “lo”, though DELI warns that the distribution is not as clear as is sometimes claimed.[2][1] Old dialect texts have “lu” too, as in the Ritmo cassinese.[6]

The pronoun is the same word as French le, Occitan lo, Catalan el (also ⟨lo⟩), Spanish lo, Portuguese o and Romanian -l.[7] The alternation of the Italian article forms “il”, “lo” and “l’” has drawn proposals from structural and generative linguists, one of which derives both article and pronoun from an underlying /o/.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Both the article and the pronoun are first found in the Ritmo laurenziano at the end of the 12th century.[2] GRADIT dates the word to about 1224.[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian lo could stand before any consonant, especially at the start of a line or after a consonant, as in Dante's Lo spazzo era una rena arida e spessa (“The ground was a dry and dense sand”, Inferno 14.13).[6][5][8] Today this survives only in per lo più and per lo meno, and il has taken over before a single consonant.[3][5]

Using the pronoun lo for a whole preceding clause began in the 18th century, probably under French influence;[2] Migliorini cites an example from Cesarotti.[2] Tommaseo and Bellini record the sense “that” in 1869.[2] The sense “such” (non lo è) was condemned by Fanfani in 1863 as an affectation of people imitating foreign ways.[2]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – The Ritmo laurenziano has both the article and the pronoun.[2]
  • c. 1224 – GRADIT's date for lo.[3]
  • 1306–1321 – Dante still uses lo before a single consonant (lo bello stilo).[8][5]
  • 18th century – Lo begins to refer to a preceding clause, probably under French influence.[2]
  • 1863 – Fanfani condemns lo in the sense “such”.[2]
  • 1869 – Tommaseo and Bellini record lo “that, it”.[2]

Meanings

Article

  1. The, the form of il used before masculine singular words beginning with s and a consonant, z, x, gn, ps, pn or i before a vowel; before a vowel it becomes l’: lo zaino, lo studente, l'albero.[3][4][9]
  2. Before a single consonant, only in per lo più and per lo meno.[3][9]
  3. (literary, archaic) The, before any consonant.[3][5]

Pronoun

  1. him, it, as a direct object: Lo vedo domani. Prendilo pure.[3][4]
  2. It, that, referring to a whole clause: Lo sapevo che sarebbe successo.[3][9]
  3. So, such, standing for a predicate after essere or diventare: Sembrava facile, ma non lo è.[3][9]
  4. With the impersonal si: Non lo si vede da mesi.[9]

Usage notes

The plural of the article is gli, and of the pronoun li.[5] With the prepositions the article forms allo, dallo, dello, nello, sullo and collo.[8][9] Before pn careful usage prescribes lo (lo pneumatico), but il pneumatico is more common.[4][5]

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 k l m 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 g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  6. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9
  7. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  9. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse

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

“Lo.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/lo. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·