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Etymology and origin of the Italian word passo

Italian has two words spelled passo: the adjective “withered, dried”, as in uva passa, and the noun “step”.[1][2] Both come from forms of the Latin verb pandō (“to spread out”).[1][3][2]

passo1 withered, dried

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
before 1250, Giacomo da Lentini
Inherited from
Latin passus
Ultimate origin
Latin pandō
Etymology tree of passo1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin passus
French pas
Italian passo

Pronunciation

Forms

passo (feminine passa, masculine plural passi, feminine plural passe)[4]

Etymology

The adjective “withered” is inherited from Latin passus (“spread out”), the past participle of pandō (“to spread out”), because grapes and other fruit were spread out in the sun to dry.[1][3][5][4] Latin passum (“raisin wine”) was a wine made from such grapes.[6][7] The feminine survives in the same sense of “raisin” in Catalan pansa, Spanish pasa and Portuguese passa, and in Logudorese Sardinian.[3][8] The Old Italian noun ⟨passo⟩ “raisin wine” is a learned word from the Latin.[7][9]

Latin pandō goes back to an Indo-European nasal present Proto-Indo-European *pt-n(é)-h₂- (“to spread”); its past participle, earlier *patto-, shows the full grade of the root seen in Latin pateō (“to be open”).[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Giacomo da Lentini (before 1250): “Lo giglio quand'è colto tost'è passo” (the lily, once picked, soon withers).[1][10]

Semantic evolution

Pietro de' Crescenzi's agricultural treatise in Italian (about 1350) speaks of vino passo and of vines whose grapes “divennono passe e senza umore” (became withered and without juice).[1][10] The Crusca dictionary of 1612 defines the word for herbs and fruit that have begun to shrivel for lack of moisture.[1] Manzoni has a whirlwind going into corners to find the foglie passe “dead leaves”.[5][10]

Today the adjective lives mainly in uva passa “raisins”.[11][12] Derived words are appassire “to wither” (before 1499) and passito, the sweet wine made from dried grapes (1871–1892, as a noun).[3][1]

Timeline

  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses passo “withered”.[1]
  • c. 1350 – Vino passo appears in the Italian Crescenzi.[1]
  • Before 1499 – Appassire is recorded.[3]
  • 1612 – The Crusca dictionary defines the word.[1]
  • 1871–1892 – Passito is used as a noun.[1]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (literary) withered, dried, shrivelled: foglie passe.[12][13][5]
  2. uva passa: raisins, grapes dried on the vine or in the sun.[12][5][13]

Word family

  • passito
  • appassire
  • appassimento
  • passire

passo2 step

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
before 1276, Pannuccio del Bagno
Inherited from
Latin passus
Ultimate origin
Latin pandō
Etymology tree of passo2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin passus
French pas
Italian passo

Pronunciation

Forms

passo m (plural passi)[4]

Etymology

The noun “step” is inherited from Latin passus (“step, pace”), a noun in ⟨-tus⟩ from the same verb pandō (“to spread out”), first meaning “the spreading of the legs”, then the space they cover.[1][3][12][4][7] The word is pan-Romance: French pas, Occitan pas, Catalan pas, Spanish paso, Portuguese passo, Sardinian passu and Romanian pas, from which the DÉRom reconstructs Proto-Romance */ˈpass-u/.[3][8][14] The Proto-Romance word was borrowed into Albanian and Irish.[14][7] In French the noun came to reinforce the negation, like point.[7][8]

The senses “passage, way through” and “mountain pass” belong, for GRADIT, Nocentini, Sabatini–Coletti and the GDLI, to a deverbal noun from passare, which comes from the Latin noun;[2][3][15][16] GRADIT compares Medieval Latin passum, recorded in 1204, and the Italian word from before 1313.[2][3][15][16]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the poet Pannuccio del Bagno (before 1276), for each of the movements of the legs in walking.[1][2] Francesco da Barberino, early in the 14th century, advised: “Sian li tuoi passi per via temperati” (let your steps in the street be measured).[17]

Semantic evolution

By the end of the 13th century the step was also a measure of length, about five feet (Bono Giamboni, before 1292), and an action taken towards a goal (Chiaro Davanzati).[1] Dante uses it for a person's gait and for a passage of a book;[1] Sermini (15th century) for a short distance, and Agostini (1553) for a step in dancing.[1] Technical senses followed: the distance between parts of a series (1889), the wheelbase of a vehicle (1930) and the gauge of cinema film (1942).[1]

Passi di gigante “giant strides” is a translation of French pas de géant, which purists rejected at once in 1811.[1] The Old Italian plural could be feminine, le passa.[17] Many phrases build on the word: fare due passi “to go for a short walk”, fare il passo più lungo della gamba “to overreach oneself”, di pari passo “at the same pace”.[2][5][11] Passista (1942) is a cyclist strong on flat stages.[1]

Timeline

  • Before 1276 – Pannuccio del Bagno uses passo “step”.[1]
  • Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it as a measure of length.[1]
  • Before 1313 – Passo “passage” is recorded.[2][3]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “gait” and “passage of a text”.[1]
  • 1553 – The dance step is recorded.[1]
  • 1811 – Purists reject passi di gigante.[1]
  • 1930 – Passo “wheelbase” appears.[1]
  • 1942 – Passista and the film-gauge sense are recorded.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A step: each movement of the legs in walking; the distance covered by it: Fece due passi verso la finestra.[2][12][15][4]
  2. The sound of steps, footstep; a footprint: Si sentivano passi in corridoio.[2][15][4]
  3. A short distance: La stazione è a due passi.[2][12][5]
  4. pace, gait, way of walking; the walk of a horse: Camminava con passo deciso.[2][15][5]
  5. (figurative) A step taken towards an aim; a decision: Il matrimonio è un passo importante.[2][15][11]
  6. Marching pace; a dance step: un passo di valzer.[2][5]
  7. A passage of a text: Rileggi quel passo del romanzo.[2][12][4]
  8. (technical) Pitch, the fixed distance between parts of a series; the wheelbase of a vehicle; the gauge of cinema film.[2][5][4]
  9. Passage, the act of passing; a way through: lasciare libero il passo.[2][15]
  10. A mountain pass: il passo del Brennero.[2][15][4]
  11. The passage of migrating birds: uccelli di passo.[2][15]

Word family

  • passista
  • passetto
  • sottopasso
  • sovrappasso
  • contrappasso

Usage notes

Passo carrabile or passo carraio is the sign on a driveway that must be kept clear.[2][4] Old Italian also had a learned passo “who has suffered”, from the participle of Latin patior (“to suffer”), used by Dante of the pierced feet of Christ;[18][7] DEI and GRADIT further list an adjective passo “loose, dishevelled” for hair, from Ariosto.[7][2] Passo is also the first person singular present of passare.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2795
  8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  10. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 783
  11. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  12. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  14. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  16. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 780
  17. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 773
  18. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 12, 784
  19. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Passo.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/passo. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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