prossimo

Forms

prossimo (feminine prossima, masculine plural prossimi, feminine plural prossime)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian prossimu, Old Italian proximo and Old Italian prosimo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin proximus (“nearest, next”), a learned word, the superlative of prope (“near”).^[2][4][5][3] Wiktionary counts it as inherited, but DELI, Nocentini, DEI and GDLI all treat it as taken from written Latin.^[1][2][4][6]

The popular outcome of the Latin word is Old French prueisme and Old Occitan proisme.^[7][6] In the Iberian languages the learned adjective Spanish próximo stands beside the popular noun prójimo (“fellow man”), and Portuguese has próximo.^[4][7] French has only the derivative French proximité.^[4]

De Vaan, following Dunkel, traces the adverb to Proto-Indo-European *própro (“on and on, ever further”), an iterated preverb that lost its second /r/ by dissimilation, like Sanskrit प्रप्र (prá-pra, “on and on”) and Ancient Greek πρόπρο (própro, “before; on and on”).^[8] In his view the superlative replaced an unusual older sequence ⟨ps⟩ with ⟨x⟩.^[8] Nocentini and Wiktionary instead start from Proto-Indo-European *prokʷe, with the second consonant assimilated to the first, and place the adverb in the family of prō (“before”).^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Carta picena of 1193, a document from the Marche, in the form prossimu and with the sense “next”, in a reckoning of three years from a coming date.^[2][3] The Breve di Montieri, a Tuscan statute of 1219, has proximo in the same use: “da questo proximo kalenda ianuari” (from this next first of January).^[3] DELI's general sense for these early records is “very near in space; near to a condition; close by kinship”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun, for each person as the neighbour of another in Christian teaching, appears in Gerardo Patecchio, a Lombard poet of the 13th century.^[2] DEI finds the noun for a blood relative in Boccaccio and for one's fellow man in Dante.^[6] In dates the adjective was often reinforced: Old Florentine chronicles say il sabato prossimo (the following Saturday), and Bono Giamboni writes il martidì prossimo vegnente (next Tuesday coming).^[3]

The derivatives are old too: prossimità “nearness” is in Bono Giamboni before 1292, and prossimamente “shortly” in the first half of the 14th century.^[2] The grammatical term passato prossimo, for the past tense whose effects reach the present, contrasts with passato remoto.^[9][10] Prossimale, the anatomical term for the part nearer the centre of the body, is English proximal (1803 in that sense); DELI dates it to 1950 and Nocentini to 1898.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1193 – The Carta picena has prossimu “next”.^[2]
• 1219 – The Breve di Montieri uses proximo.^[2]
• 13th century – Gerardo Patecchio uses the noun for one's fellow man.^[2]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses prossimità.^[2]
• First half of the 14th century – Prossimamente is recorded.^[2]
• 1950 – Prossimale enters the dictionaries.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very near in space, close (with a): Il paese è prossimo al confine.^[5][11][12]
2. Near in time, imminent: Le elezioni sono ormai prossime.^[5][11][12]
3. next, immediately following in a series or in time: Ci sentiamo martedì prossimo.^[5][11][9]
4. About to do something or to reach a condition (with a): Era prossimo alla laurea.^[5][11][10]
5. Close in nature, similar (with a).^[5][11]
6. (uncommon) Recently past: negli anni a noi prossimi.^[5][11][9]
7. Close by kinship, in parente prossimo, a close relative.^[5][10][13]
8. Direct, immediate, in causa prossima.^[12][10]

Noun

1. (singular only) One's neighbour in Christian teaching, every person in relation to another; by extension, other people in general: ama il prossimo tuo come te stesso.^[5][12][10]
2. The next person in a queue or in an order of precedence: Adesso tocca al prossimo.^[5][10]
3. (uncommon) A relative.^[12]

Word family

• prossimamente
• prossimità
• prossimale
• approssimare
• approssimativo
• approssimazione

Related words

• Latin proximus
• Latin prope

Usage notes

Although it comes from a Latin superlative, Italian speakers often treat prossimo as a positive adjective, and the comparative più prossimo is common.^[10] The superlative prossimissimo is rare and literary;^[10][14] Leopardi used it.^[10][14] In commercial and bureaucratic style prossimo venturo “next coming” is abbreviated p.v..^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14, 719
4. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3113
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca