Etymologically
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ognuno

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Pronunciation

  • /ˌoɲˈɲu.no/[1]

Forms

ognuno m sg (feminine ognuna)[1] Older spellings are ogni uno, ogn'uno and ogniuno; poetry has the shortened ognun.[2][3][4][1]

Etymology

It is from Italian ogni (“every”) + uno (“one”), first written as a phrase and later as one word.[5][6][7][8][9][1] ogni is inherited from Latin omnis (“all, every”), and uno is ūnus (“one”).[6][1]

De Vaan traces the Latin adjective to Proto-Italic *opni-, perhaps a verbal adjective from the root of ops (“means, wealth”);[10][6] Nocentini also connects it with that root.[10][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Pucciandone Martelli of Pisa, before 1301, with the sense “every person, everyone”.[5][7] Zingarelli dates the word to 1266.[4]

Semantic evolution

In Boccaccio's Decameron a young man learns his letters and becomes a fine philosopher “to the great wonder of everyone” (con grandissima ammirazione d'ognuno).[11][12] Old Italian also used the word as an adjective, meaning “every”: Brunetto Latini writes of ognuna creatura and Ariosto of ognuna persona; this use is now archaic.[12][3][7]

Proverbs show the distributive sense, “each for himself”: ognuno per sé e Dio per tutti, “everyone for himself and God for all”.[12][4][9] In colloquial Italian the pronoun can take a plural verb, with the sense “all of us, each one”.[7]

Timeline

  • 1266 – Zingarelli's date for ognuno.[4]
  • Before 1301 – Pucciandone Martelli uses it for “everyone”.[5][7]
  • 14th century – Nocentini's and Devoto–Oli's date for the word.[6][13]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. (singular only) everyone, every person: Ognuno ha diritto alla propria opinione.[7][13][2][1]
  2. (with a partitive) each one of a group: Ognuno di voi riceverà una copia.[7][13][4]
  3. Each of a set of things: Rimetti ognuno di questi attrezzi al suo posto.[7][2]
  4. (colloquial) All, each of us, sometimes with a plural verb.[7]

Adjective

  1. (archaic) Every, each.[7][13][3]

Usage notes

The feminine is ognuna: ognuna delle ragazze.[13][3] The proverb ognuno per sé e Dio per tutti means that each should look after his own interests.[13][4][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  4. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c 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 e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  12. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  13. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier