nostro

Forms

nostro (feminine nostra, masculine plural nostri, feminine plural nostre)^[1] Old Italian also had the form nosso, used in Albertano's translation and common across Italy.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin noster (“our”), from Latin nōs (“we”), with the suffix -ter that marks a contrast between two, as in alter (Italian altro).^[4][5][6][7] The word is panromance: French notre, Occitan nostre, Catalan nostre, Spanish nuestro, Portuguese nosso, Sardinian nostru, Friulian nestri, Dalmatian nuester and Romanian nostru.^[5][8]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *nosteros and, with a question mark, a PIE possessive Proto-Indo-European *n̥s-tero-.^[9][1] Devoto finds a similar formation only in Greek ἡμέτερος (hēméteros), while German unser has a simpler derivative.^[7] The Latin genitive nostrum “of us” was originally the genitive plural of the possessive.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the Ritmo cassinese, at the end of the 12th century, as the adjective “belonging to us”;^[4] GRADIT dates the word to the second half of the 12th century.^[6] The plural i nostri, “our family, our relatives, our side”, appears in the Ritmo bellunese of 1193–1196.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used Nostro Signore for Christ, as in Dante's “Quanto tesoro volle Nostro Segnore / in prima da san Pietro” (how much treasure our Lord asked of Saint Peter, Inferno 19), and Nostra Donna for the Virgin.^[10][11] The plural i nostri named one's own people or party, as in Petrarch.^[10]

Two adjectives meaning “of our country, local” grew from it: nostrano, recorded in the Statute of the Gabella of Siena (1301–1303), and nostrale, in the translation of Crescenzi of about 1350.^[4] DEI finds Medieval Latin nostranus at Arezzo as early as 994.^[3] The naval nostromo, the boatswain, comes from older nostr'homo, “our man”.^[2]

Modern uses include the plural of majesty or modesty (a nostro avviso), il nostro for an author already under discussion, and the exclamation arrivano i nostri!, from the rescue scenes of old adventure films.^[11][1] GRADIT lists Cosa Nostra and Padre nostro among its phrases.^[6]

Timeline

• 994 – Medieval Latin nostranus is recorded at Arezzo.^[3]
• End of the 12th century – The Ritmo cassinese uses nostro.^[4]
• 1193–1196 – I nostri “our people” in the Ritmo bellunese.^[4]
• 1301–1303 – Nostrano in the Statute of the Gabella of Siena.^[4]
• About 1350 – Nostrale in the translation of Crescenzi.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. our, belonging to us: il nostro giardino, casa nostra.^[6][12][13]
2. That is part of us or comes from us: i nostri progetti, la nostra ultima e-mail.^[6][12][11]
3. Marking kinship, friendship or other ties, without the article before a singular noun of kinship: nostro zio, i nostri vicini.^[6][14][13]
4. As a plural of majesty or modesty: a nostro parere.^[11]
5. (religion) In Nostro Signore (Christ) and Nostra Signora (the Virgin Mary).^[11][10]

Pronoun

1. ours: la vostra auto è grigia, la nostra è rossa.^[11][1]
2. il nostro: what belongs to us; also an author or person already mentioned or familiar to speaker and listener.^[1][11]
3. i nostri: our family, friends, troops or side: arrivano i nostri!.^[11][1][4]

Word family

• nostrano
• nostrale
• nostromo

Related words

• loro
• mio
• suo
• tuo
• vostro
• noi
• Latin noster
• French notre

Usage notes

Nostro placed after the noun is more emphatic: è roba nostra.^[12][14] With singular nouns of kinship it takes no article (nostra madre), except when the noun is altered or affectionate (la nostra nonnina), with regional variation for mamma and papà.^[6][15] Phrases include essere dei nostri (to join us, to be on our side).^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 702
3. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2602
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 297
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli