ove

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ubī (“where”), used in Latin as an interrogative and a relative.^[2][3][4][1] The same adverb is French où, Old Occitan o, Sardinian ue and Romanian iu, the last now out of use.^[3][5] With de it formed dove.^[3][5]

The Latin adverb goes back to the Indo-European interrogative stem Proto-Indo-European *kʷu-.^[3][6][7] The initial ⟨c⟩ was lost in the simple word but kept in compounds such as Latin alicubi (“somewhere”), and the ending is that of the locative.^[3][7][6] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *kʷuþei and compares Oscan and Umbrian forms and Sanskrit and Old Church Slavonic words for “where”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Florentine bankers' account book of 1211, meaning “where”.^[2][3][4] The GDLI quotes Bono Giamboni: Ov'è questo castello?, “Where is this castle?”^[8]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian forms include ovi and uve, and the poets clipped it to ⟨o’⟩ and ⟨’ve⟩;^[8][2] Bembo noted that ove, dove and the poetic ⟨u’⟩ mean the same.^[8][2] The senses “wherever” and “whereas, while” are first found in Petrarch in 1374, and the conditional “if, in case” in Boccaccio's Decameron (1348–1353).^[2] Fra Guittone d'Arezzo used it for “to whom”.^[9]

Ove is now literary, a more elevated form of dove with the same uses.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 1211 – Ove in a Florentine bankers' account book.^[2]
• Second half of the 1200s – Ovunque is recorded.^[3]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses ove as a conditional conjunction.^[2]
• 1374 – Petrarch uses it for “wherever” and for “whereas”.^[2]
• 1525 – Bembo comments on ove, dove and ⟨u’⟩.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (literary) where, in direct and indirect questions and in relative clauses: Ove sei andato?^[4][11][12]
2. (literary) wherever; also ove che.^[4][13]

Conjunction

1. With the subjunctive: if, in case, should: Ove fosse necessario, chiamami.^[4][11][13]
2. (literary) Whereas, while.^[4][13][14]

Word family

• ovunque

Related words

• u'
• dove
• dovunque
• laddove
• Latin ubi

Usage notes

Before a vowel ove is often elided to ov’; the aphaeretic ’ve is old and poetic.^[12][13] The GDLI also lists an unrelated rare ove “sheep”, a learned word from Latin ovis found in old poets.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2708
10. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 297