Etymologically
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nonostante

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Pronunciation

  • /no.nosˈtan.te/[1]

Forms

nonostante[1] It is also written separately, non ostante (literary).[2][3][4] Old forms include non istante, nonnestante and non obstante.[5]

Etymology

It is a compound from Italian non + ostante, the phrase written as one word; the second part is the present participle of ostare (“to stand in the way”), used in an absolute construction, “there being no obstacle”.[6][7][4][8][1] The verb is a learned loan of Latin obstō (“to stand against”).[6][7] Battaglia's dictionary (GDLI) traces the phrase to Medieval Latin non obstante of legal language, an ablative absolute.[5]

The same phrase is French nonobstant, Spanish no obstante and Portuguese não obstante.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Zibaldone Andreini of the early 14th century, as a preposition and conjunction meaning “in spite of, although”;[6][2] Zingarelli dates it to 1308.[6][2] Matteo Villani uses it with a noun: the people wait for the tyrant's fall non ostante le sopraddette cose “in spite of the things said above”.[5]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian used nonostante with a noun as a preposition and with che as a conjunction of concession (nonostante che).[5] The participle once agreed with a plural noun, as in non ostanti le difficoltà, a use now out of date.[4] Zingarelli records obsolete nonostante a and nonostante di, and Manzoni's adverbial non ostante “nevertheless”.[2]

Today it is a preposition (nonostante la pioggia), a conjunction with the subjunctive (nonostante sia tardi), and with ciò a connective, ciò nonostante or ciononostante, “all the same”.[9][10][4]

Timeline

  • 1308 – Zingarelli's date for nonostante.[2]
  • Early 14th century – The Zibaldone Andreini has it.[6]
  • 14th century – The verb ostare is recorded.[6][7]
  • Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses non ostante with a noun.[5]

Meanings

Preposition

  1. despite, in spite of, notwithstanding: Nonostante il traffico, siamo arrivati in orario.[9][10][4][1]
  2. Nonostante tutto: in spite of everything.[10][2]

Conjunction

  1. although, even though (with the subjunctive, also nonostante che): Nonostante fosse stanco, ha finito il lavoro.[9][10][4][1]
  2. Ciò nonostante, nonostante ciò: all the same, nevertheless.[9][4][11]
  • ostare
  • ciononostante
  • malgrado
  • French nonobstant

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  5. ^ 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, p. 11, 543
  6. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 297
  9. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana