nimo

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nēmō (“nobody”), kept directly in Tuscan speech while the standard language took nessuno.^[2][1][3][4] DEI finds the Latin word surviving in the Romanian, Italian and Sard areas, and in Corsica it is Corsican nimmu.^[5][4] Körting adds Romanian nime.^[6]

The Latin word is a contraction of the old phrase nē hemō (“no man”), from nē (“not”) and hemō, the older form of homō (“man”).^[7][1][5] Wiktionary traces the old form through Proto-Italic *hemō to Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Guittone d'Arezzo uses nimo as an adjective in his letters: non ponno stare ad uno punto in nimo loco, “they cannot stand at one point in any place”.^[8][9] GRADIT dates the word before 1342, and the GDLI's quotations begin with Domenico Cavalca, who writes non dispiacere a nimo, “not to displease anyone”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed a Tuscan one.^[4][5] The GDLI quotes it from Giovanni Sercambi of Lucca, Filippo Sassetti and Lorenzo Lippi's Malmantile, where acciocché nimo un tratto lo combatta means “so that nobody fights him all at once”.^[4][9] Tommaseo–Bellini described it in 1861 as a word left to country people.^[9]

DEI calls it rural Tuscan, above all of Lucca, and the GDLI finds it in the speech of Pisa, Lucca, Versilia and Elba.^[5][4] Treccani says it is still alive around Pisa and Lucca and quotes Enrico Pea: allora nimo vi torceva un capello, “then nobody touched a hair of your head”.^[3] Giovanni Pascoli used it as a deliberate Tuscanism: han la tiglia soda / più che nimo altri.^[2][10][4]

Timeline

• 1200s – Guittone d'Arezzo uses nimo as an adjective in his letters.^[8][9]
• Before 1342 – the date of first record GRADIT gives.^[2]
• 1861 – Tommaseo–Bellini notes that the word survives among peasants.^[9]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. (archaic, regional, Tuscany) nobody, no one; nessuno.^{[2][11][3][1]}

Adjective

1. (archaic) no, not any.^{[8][11][9][4]}

Related words

• nessuno
• niuno
• Latin nemo

Usage notes

Nimo is invariable.^[9][12] DEI and the GDLI tie its survival to the dialects of Tuscany, and Treccani still lists it as living there.^[5][4][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
3. ^ 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)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2586
6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d e f g Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli