Etymologically
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qua

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈkwa/[1]
  • Regional: /ˈkwa/[1]

Forms

qua (invariable)[1] Old and dialect forms include Old Italian quae (Sienese, 13th century), quai and ca.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *eccum hāc (“look, this way”), made of the presentative Latin eccum (“here he is, behold”) and the adverb hāc (“by this way”).[4][5][6][1] The first part also gave ecco.[5][7] The second is the ablative feminine singular of hic (“this”), frozen as an adverb.[8] The first part is itself a contraction of ecce (“behold”) with, probably, the accusative hunc (“him”).[9]

The same compound gave Spanish acá and Portuguese cá, while French çà and Old Occitan sai continue Vulgar Latin *ecce hāc instead.[5][10][1] The Latin double /kk/ was simplified in the standard language but survives in most regional varieties, as in Sicilian cca.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Guittone d'Arezzo, who died in 1294, with the sense “in this place”.[4] Dante has it in the Purgatorio: “Anime sono a destra qua remote” (there are souls set apart here to the right).[3]

Semantic evolution

Its use as a mere reinforcement after questo (questo qua) is also found in Dante, before 1321.[4] So are the compounds quaggiù and quassù, at first written as two words.[4][5] Beside qui, with which it shares most uses, qua points to a less precisely bounded place, and it pairs with là for “here and there” (qua e là).[11][12]

Timeline

  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses qua.[4]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses qua giù and qua su, and questo qua.[4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. here, in or to this place, near the speaker: Vieni qua, ti devo parlare.[6][13][11]
  2. With other adverbs and prepositions: qua dentro, qua sotto, di qua “this way, on this side”, per di qua “this way”.[6][13][14]
  3. Paired with là: qua e là, here and there; also, without a sense of place, for insistent repetition.[6][11][15]
  4. As a reinforcement after questo or ecco, or with an imperative: questo qua, ecco qua, dammi qua.[6][11][15]
  5. At this point, in time or in a discussion: Fin qua tutto bene.[11][12]

Word family

  • quaggiù
  • quassù

Usage notes

In Tuscan and standard pronunciation qua doubles the consonant that follows, which shows in the spelling of quassù.[11][13] Wiktionary lists quà, with an accent, as a variant spelling.[1]

A separate imitative word qua, usually repeated (qua qua), is the call of ducks and geese.[5][6][13] It is recorded from the 14th century, before 1379 according to GRADIT;[5][6][16] Franco Sacchetti gives the quail's call as qua qua riquà.[5][6][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3163
  3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  4. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 21, 142
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 355
  9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  12. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  13. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  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. 15, 3