mentre

Forms

mentre (conjunction; also a masculine noun in set phrases)^[2][1] The old forms are Old Italian domentre, Old Italian dimentre and northern Old Italian demente.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Italian domentre without its first syllable, inherited from Latin dum interim (“while meanwhile”), a phrase of dum (“while”) and interim (“in the meantime”).^[5][6][7][8] The unstressed vowel of ⟨interim⟩ dropped regularly.^[9] The same phrase gave Old Occitan domentre, Old French dementres and Old Spanish domientre (modern Spanish mientras).^[6][4]

Wiktionary traces dum to an adverb Proto-Italic *dūm built on Proto-Indo-European *dweh₂- (“long”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record of mentre is in the Ritmo laurenziano at the end of the 12th century, in the sense “at the time when”;^[5][7][6] GRADIT dates it before 1250, while Nocentini places it only in the 16th century.^[5][7][6] The full form domentre is in a Venetian treaty with Aleppo of 1225: “domentre ke vegnerà lo meso” (until the messenger comes).^[3] GDLI quotes the Sicilian poets: “Eo vivo dolzemente / mentre mia donna miro” (I live sweetly while I gaze at my lady).^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian mentre and domentre could also mean “until, as long as”, a sense still found in literary Italian.^[3][10][11] The adversative sense “whereas” appears in Galileo, before 1642.^[5] The phrase in questo mentre “at this very moment”, with the word used as a noun, is in Domenico Cavalca before 1342, and in quel mentre in Pietro Aretino in 1540.^[5] The older mentre che (Dante, Boccaccio) is now uncommon.^[11][10]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The Ritmo laurenziano uses mentre.^[5]
• 1225 – A Venetian treaty with Aleppo uses domentre.^[3]
• Before 1342 – Domenico Cavalca uses in questo mentre.^[5]
• 1540 – Pietro Aretino uses in quel mentre.^[5]
• Before 1642 – Galileo uses mentre “whereas”.^[5]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. while, at the time when, during the time that: Mentre cucinavo è andata via la luce.^[7][2][12]
2. (literary) As long as, until: Approfittane mentre puoi.^[7][12][10]
3. whereas, while on the contrary: Lui lavora sodo, mentre il fratello non fa niente.^[7][2][1]

Noun

1. Only in set phrases: in quel mentre “at that very moment” and nel mentre “meanwhile”.^[2][10][1]

Related words

• interim

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
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 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 c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2425
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 278
10. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 653
12. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse