poi

Forms

poi (adverb; also a masculine noun, invariable; literary po’)^[2][1][3] Old forms include Old Italian pò, Old Italian pui, Old Italian puoi and, with di, Old Italian dipoi and Old Italian depòi.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pos, the archaic and popular form of Latin post (“after; behind”).^[1][5][6] Devoto explains the final ⟨-i⟩ by the regular change of a final vowel plus ⟨s⟩ into a vowel plus ⟨i⟩, as in sei from sex.^[7] The word is Romanian apoi, Occitan pos, Spanish pues and Portuguese pois.^[8][1][9] The French word puis goes back instead to a form Vulgar Latin *postius.^[8][5]

The Latin word was first a word of place, “behind”, and only later of time.^[8][7] It continues Proto-Italic *posti and Proto-Indo-European *pósti, from Proto-Indo-European *pós;^[1][10] related are Oscan púst and Umbrian post, Lithuanian pàs (“at, by”), Albanian pas (“after”) and Old Church Slavonic поздѣ (pozdě, “late”).^[8][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record of the sense “afterwards, later” is in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century.^[11] Nocentini, GRADIT and Devoto–Oli date the word to the second half of the 13th century, and Sabatini–Coletti to the 12th.^{[11][8][2][12][13]} Brunetto Latini's Rettorica has “E poi si n'andò in Francia” (and then he went to France).^[4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “moreover, in the second place” is in Jacopone da Todi before 1306, and the noun il poi “the future” in Dante.^[11] Old Italian also used poi as a preposition, “after”, and as a conjunction, “after, since”: Dante's “Poi fummo dentro al soglio della porta” (when we were inside the threshold of the gate).^[12][5] The conjunction poiché “after; since” is in Dante and Boccaccio.^[11]

The sense “after all, in the end” (hai poi deciso?) is in Annibal Caro before 1566.^[11] The modern word also marks contrast and emphasis: questa poi! expresses surprise, and mai e poi mai means “never ever”.^[2][3]

Timeline

• Second half of the 13th century – Poi “afterwards” is recorded.^[8][2]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses poi.^[11]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses poi “moreover”.^[11]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses the noun il poi and the conjunction poi che.^[11]
• Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses poi “after all”.^[11]

Meanings

Adverb

1. then, afterwards, later: ci vediamo poi; in correlation with prima: prima lavo i piatti, poi esco.^[2][12][13]
2. Further on, in space or in a series: c'è il ponte e poi la chiesa.^[2][13][3]
3. Besides, moreover: non ho tempo, e poi non mi va.^[2][12][14]
4. After all, in the end: l'hai poi trovato il libro?, non è poi così difficile.^[2][12][3]
5. Used to take up a topic or for emphasis: quanto poi alle spese, ne parliamo domani, questa poi!.^[2][14][15]

Noun

1. The future, what comes after: non pensa mai al poi.^[11][12]

Word family

• poiché
• dipoi

Related words

• dopo
• poscia
• postumo
• Latin post
• Spanish pues

Usage notes

Common phrases are prima o poi (sooner or later), d'ora in poi (from now on), da allora in poi (from then on), a poi (see you later) and il senno di poi (hindsight).^[2][3][14] The vowel is open, /ɔ/.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 720
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2988
6. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 335
8. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli