nonnulla

Forms

nonnulla m (invariable)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nōnnūlla (“some things”), the neuter plural of nōnnūllus (“some, several”), from nōn (“not”) and nūllus (“none”).^[2][3][4][1] Nocentini classes it as a Latin formation taken into Italian, while Wiktionary calls it inherited.^[3][1]

The Latin neuter plural was taken as a singular noun.^[3] Its two negatives meant “not nothing”, that is “something”, but in Italian the word was associated with nulla and took on its negative meaning.^[5][6][7] The 18th-century scholar Anton Maria Salvini noted that in Italian, as in Greek, two negatives do not make a positive, so that the compound means the same as the simple word.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in an Italian translation of a letter of St Bernard, in the 14th century: ma tutto riputa nonnulla, “but count everything as nothing”.^[2][6][8] There the word is a pronoun meaning “nothing”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The pronoun “nothing” lasted into the 19th century.^[6] Machiavelli played on the two words, saying he had answered nothing because the others had said nonnulla.^[6] Benedetto Varchi wrote that all things would become nonnulla, and Mazzini still used it in his letters.^[6]

As a noun, un nonnulla came to mean a thing or a person of no worth: Tommaseo–Bellini quote Caporali's Voi siete dunque, come dire, un nonnulla, “so you are, as it were, a nobody”, and Giovanni della Casa's Galateo on people bowing to each other per nonnulla, “for nothing”.^[8] This is the modern sense, “a trifle”.^[4][9][5] Pirandello wrote mi fermavo a ogni nonnulla, “I stopped at every trifle”.^[10]

Timeline

• 1300s – an Italian translation of St Bernard uses nonnulla for “nothing”.^[2][6]
• 1861 – Tommaseo–Bellini record the noun for a thing or person of no value.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A trifle, a thing of no importance; inezia: Quel bambino piange per un nonnulla.^{[4][9][5][10][1]}

Pronoun

1. (literary, archaic) nothing; nulla.^[6][8]

Related words

• nulla
• nullo
• non
• Latin nonnullus

Usage notes

The noun is invariable, and its plural is rare.^[4][10] The GDLI also records it written as two words, non nulla.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 297
8. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)