ovunque

Etymology

It is formed from Italian ove + -unque, that is from the old word for “where” and the generalizing ending also found in chiunque and qualunque.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} DELI, Sabatini–Coletti and the GDLI trace it to Latin ubi (“where”) and Latin unquam (“ever”), which replaced classical Latin ubīcumque (“wherever”) with its generalizing -cumque;^[6][7][8] Wiktionary allows that the Latin word may have influenced the Italian formation.^[1] DELI explains the change as the dropping of the repeated ⟨cu⟩ sound, and Prati posits a popular Latin form behind it.^[6][9] In the compound the Latin word for “ever” has taken the sense “any”.^[10][7]

Latin ubi continues an older cubi and goes back, according to de Vaan, to Proto-Italic *kʷuþei and to the Indo-European interrogative stem Proto-Indo-European *kʷu- with a locative suffix.^[11][1] The plain word survives in ove, in French où and Romanian iu.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, a poem from the Marche of the late 12th century, which has the form oveunqua.^[13][8] DELI's first date is before 1292, in Bono Giamboni.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian had many forms, written as one word or two: ove unque, oveunque, ovunqua, ovunche and others.^[13] The word meant “in every place in which” and also “whenever”, and là ovunque meant “in each of the places where”.^[13] It is common in the poets: Dante wishes his words to be commended “ovunque sono” (wherever they are), and Petrarch's laurel leads him “ovunque vuol” (wherever it wishes).^[8] Prati notes that in old texts it could simply mean “where”.^[9]

Ariosto's line “converrà che tu le faccia / compagnia sempre, ovunque andar le piaccia” shows the use with the subjunctive, and Metastasio's “ovunque il guardo giro, / immenso Iddio ti vedo” (wherever I turn my eyes, immense God, I see you) became a famous verse.^[14][5] The variant dovunque was formed on dove.^[9] Today DELI and the Zingarelli label ovunque literary beside dovunque, while GRADIT marks it as common.^[6][14][3]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – Oveunqua appears in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio.^[13][8]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses ovunque.^[6]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it in a canzone of the Vita nuova.^[8]
• 1516 – Ariosto's Orlando furioso uses it with the subjunctive.^[14][15]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. wherever, in any place in which; with the subjunctive, or the future indicative: Ovunque tu vada, ti scriverò.^[3][4][5]

Adverb

1. everywhere, anywhere, in every place: Ho cercato le chiavi ovunque.^[3][4][7]

Related words

• ove
• dovunque
• dove
• -unque
• Latin ubicumque

Usage notes

Ovunque and dovunque mean the same; the Zingarelli treats ovunque as the literary one.^[14][16] Quasi ovunque means “almost everywhere”.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
6. ^ a b c d e 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ 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. 12, 302
9. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 719
10. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
14. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli