Etymologically
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oh

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Pronunciation

Forms

oh (interjection; as a noun, masculine and invariable)[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ōh, also written ō, an onomatopoeic exclamation of surprise and strong feeling.[4][5][2][6][7] Nocentini and Sabatini–Coletti treat it as a word inherited from Latin, common to the other Romance languages and to the Indo-European languages generally.[5][6] DELI quotes Hofmann's account of colloquial Latin: the interjection of glad or painful surprise, of desire and of elevated pathos, it survived in all the Romance languages, and is found in other Indo-European languages, especially Greek, which has Ancient Greek ὦ (ô).[4][7] In later Latin ⟨oh⟩ almost vanished from the manuscripts, while ⟨ō⟩ spread as the older interjections heus and eho fell out of use.[4] The use of Latin “ō” before a vocative was itself a semantic loan from the Greek interjection.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294.[4][8] GRADIT and Nocentini date it to before 1313, in Dante.[2][5] Francesco da Buti, commenting on Dante before 1404, explains it: O, questa è interjezione, che significa ammirazione (“O: this is an interjection, which signifies wonder”).[4]

Semantic evolution

From the start the interjection expressed, according to the tone of the voice, pity, desire, grief, doubt, wonder, boredom, pleasure, scorn or fear.[4][8] Ariosto uses it for admiring irony in oh gran bontà de' cavalieri antiqui! (“oh, the great goodness of the knights of old!”).[8] Used as a noun it names the exclamation itself.[2][3] Repeated, it imitates laughter or the refrain of a song, as in the lullaby ninna oh.[2][6] The compound olà, with là, is of the 16th century.[5]

Timeline

  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses oh.[4]
  • Before 1313 – Dante uses oh.[2][5]
  • Before 1404 – Francesco da Buti explains Dante's oh as an interjection of wonder.[4]
  • 16th century – Olà appears.[5]

Meanings

Interjection

  1. oh: expresses, according to the tone, surprise, wonder, joy, pain, pity, annoyance or scorn: Oh, che bella sorpresa![2][9][10]
  2. Strengthening an answer or an invocation: oh no!, oh sì!, oh Dio![6][2]
  3. As a discourse marker, playing down what follows: “Quanto ci vuole?” “Oh, un'oretta.”[6]
  4. Repeated, imitating laughter or a sung refrain.[2][6]

Noun

  1. An exclamation of “oh”: un oh di stupore.[2][3]

Word family

  • olà
  • ohimè
  • Latin ō

Usage notes

The vowel may be open or closed: Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti give both /ɔ/ and /o/,[9][6] and Zingarelli a long open /ɔː/.[8] Sabatini–Coletti also records a lengthened spelling ooh.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  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. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana