medesimo

Forms

medesimo (feminine medesima, masculine plural medesimi, feminine plural medesime)^[1] Older and poetic forms include medesmo, and old or northern medemo.^[2][3][4] Venetian medemo is Venetian and Lombard medèm Milanese.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *metipsimus (“the very same”), a strengthened form of ipsimus, the superlative of ipse (“himself”) found in Petronius, with the intensive particle -met of egomet (“I myself”).^[5][6][7][3] Migliorini, quoted by DELI, sees that superlative as modelled on Ancient Greek αὐτότατος (autótatos).^[5][8] Nocentini explains that the particle strengthened personal pronouns followed by that same pronoun, as in sēmet (“himself”), came loose from them and was joined to it.^[6]

Rohlfs, quoted by DELI and the GDLI, holds that the ⟨d⟩ in place of /t/ betrays a French origin: the word would then be borrowed from Old French medesme;^[5][9][10] Meyer-Lübke too derived the Italian word from Old French.^[5][9][10] Rohlfs adds that stesso is the truly popular word throughout Italy, while this one is literary.^[9]

The same formation is French même, Old Occitan medesme, Spanish mismo and Portuguese mesmo.^[6][1] The form without the superlative ending, *metipse, gave Old Occitan medeis and Catalan mateix, which was borrowed into Logudorese as matessi.^[11][10] The origin of the Latin particle is uncertain: de Vaan considers Proto-Indo-European *me (“with”) with an added *-ti, or the particle seen in Ancient Greek μήν (mḗn, “certainly”).^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, with the forms medesmo and medesimmo in the intensive sense “himself, in person”.^[5] The form medesimo and the sense of identity appear in Dante's Convivio (1304–08), as in Nel medesimo libro si scrive (“In the same book it is written”).^[5][9]

Semantic evolution

Guido Cavalcanti still writes medesmo before 1300.^[5] The pronoun “the same person” is recorded in Domenico Cavalca before 1342, and the rarer “the same thing” in Alvise Ca' da Mosto before 1488.^[5] Rohlfs notes that Manzoni, revising his novel, replaced egli stesso with lui medesimo.^[9] The derivative immedesimare, “to identify”, dates from 1728.^[6]

Today medesimo is a less common synonym of stesso, often more emphatic; the two are even joined pleonastically, as in la stessa medesima cosa.^[2][13][7]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses medesmo and medesimmo.^[5]
• Before 1300 – Guido Cavalcanti uses medesmo.^[5]
• 1304–08 – Dante uses medesimo in the Convivio.^[5][7][6]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses it as a pronoun, “the same person”.^[5]
• Before 1488 – Ca' da Mosto uses it for “the same thing”.^[5]
• 1728 – Immedesimare is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. same, identical; sometimes doubled with stesso for emphasis: Abbiamo frequentato la medesima scuola.^[7][13][8]
2. Equal in size, quantity or quality: due vasi del medesimo colore.^[7][13][8]
3. After a personal pronoun, intensive: noi medesimi, “we ourselves”;^[7][13][14] (literary) meco medesimo, “with myself”.^[7][13][14]
4. After a noun, intensive, “very, itself”: il direttore medesimo.^[7][14][8]
5. After an adverb, “this very”: oggi medesimo, qui medesimo.^[7][13][14]

Pronoun

1. The same person: È il medesimo che mi ha chiamato stamattina.^[7][13][14]
2. (uncommon) The same thing: per me è il medesimo.^[7][13][15]

Word family

• immedesimare
• medesimamente
• medesimezza

Related words

• stesso
• esso
• Latin ipse
• French même

Usage notes

Medesimo is less common than stesso but can be more emphatic.^[2] The poetic form is medesmo;^[15][2] medemo is old or northern.^[15][2] Wiktionary gives both /meˈdezimo/ and /meˈdɛzimo/.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
3. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
4. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 649
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2402
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana