quaggiù

Etymology

It is formed from Italian qua (“here”) + giù (“down”): Treccani calls it the joined spelling of the adverb phrase, with the doubled consonant of syntactic doubling.^[2][1][3][4] An older form Old Italian quaggiuso has the older shape giuso of the second part.^[3][4][5]

The first part goes back to Vulgar Latin *eccum hāc, made of the deictic *eccum (“behold”) and Latin hāc (“this way”).^[6][1] The second is Late Latin iūsum (“down”), the late form of deorsum, through the older form.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Devoto–Oli date the first record to 1260, in the form cagiuso.^[7][3] DELI's first record of qua giù is in Dante, 1300–1313, for a place lower than the listener.^[8] In the Inferno Beatrice says Venni quaggiù dal mio beato scanno (“I came down here from my blessed seat”).^[9][5]

Semantic evolution

Already in Petrarch the adverb means “here on earth”, set against heaven: Così qua giù si gode / e la strada del ciel si trova aperta (“thus one rejoices down here, and finds the road to heaven open”).^[9][3][10] Manzoni still used the old form quaggiuso.^[5] By extension it now also means “down here in the south” or in the lowlands, seen from a place further north or higher up.^[7][3][10] The separate spelling qua giù is now literary or rare.^[5][11]

Timeline

• 1260 – The old form cagiuso is recorded.^[7][3]
• 1300–1313 – Dante writes qua giù.^[8]
• Before 1321 – The joined form is recorded.^[6][3]
• 14th century – Petrarch uses it for life on earth.^[9][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. down here: in this place, lower than the person spoken to; also da quaggiù, di quaggiù, from down here: Ti aspetto quaggiù in cortile.^[7][3][4]
2. Down here in the south, or in a place lower or further south than the listener.^[7][3][10]
3. (figurative) Here on earth, in this life, as opposed to lassù, heaven.^{[7][3][4][10]}

Related words

• qua
• giù
• lassù
• laggiù
• quassù

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli