Etymologically
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quando

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Pronunciation

Forms

quando[1] Old and regional forms include cando, canno, quanda, quandu, quanno and quano.[2] In Lucca, Pisa, Pistoia and Livorno the word is vando or guando.[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin quandō (“when”), the Latin interrogative adverb and temporal conjunction.[4][5][6][1] The DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance adverb and conjunction ⟨*/ˈkuand-o/⟩, which every Romance variety except Romansh continues.[7] The same word is French quand, Occitan can, Catalan quant, Spanish cuando, Portuguese quando, Sardinian cando, Romanian când and Dalmatian kand.[5][8] The form ⟨quanda⟩ arose by analogy with adverbs that alternate between ⟨-a⟩ and ⟨-o⟩.[9]

Latin “quandō” is formed from quam (“how, as”), of the family of quis (“who”), and a particle *dō (“until”) that also appears in dōnec (“until”).[5][3][10][1] Wiktionary takes that particle from Proto-Indo-European *doh₁, the instrumental of Proto-Indo-European *de,[1] and Nocentini and Devoto compare Old Church Slavonic до (do, “to, up to”), German zu and English to.[5][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The conjunction “at the time when” is first recorded at the beginning of the 13th century, as quano in the Ritmo su Sant'Alessio and as quando in Uguccione da Lodi.[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Other senses of the conjunction followed: “whereas” before 1250 in Giacomo da Lentini, “since, given that” in Giordano da Pisa's sermons of 1305–1306, and “if, in case” in Boccaccio in 1353.[4] The interrogative adverb is found in the 13th century in Chiaro Davanzati, and the noun il quando “the moment, the time” in an anonymous poem of the first half of that century.[4] Dante uses the noun in Paradiso 29.12, where every ubi and every quando meet in God: là 've s'appunta ogne ubi e ogne quando (“there where every where and every when is centred”).[9]

The compound quandoché is of the 13th century, and in the 16th century quando could also mean “although”.[3] Old Roman quannanti “from now on” is recorded after 1040.[3] The word appears in proverbs such as battere il ferro quando è caldo “strike while the iron is hot”.[6]

Timeline

  • Early 13th century – The Ritmo su Sant'Alessio has quano, and Uguccione da Lodi uses quando.[4]
  • First half of the 13th century – The noun quando appears.[4]
  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses it for “whereas”.[4]
  • 13th century – Chiaro Davanzati uses the interrogative adverb, and quandoché appears.[4][3]
  • 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses it for “since”.[4]
  • 1353 – Boccaccio uses it for “if”.[4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. when, in direct and indirect questions: Quando parte il prossimo treno? Non mi ha detto quando torna.[6][12][1]
  2. After a preposition: da quando “since when”, fino a quando “until when”, per quando “by when”.[13][14]
  3. Repeated, now … now, at times … at times.[13][14]

Conjunction

  1. When, at the time that: Quando ero piccolo, passavo l'estate dai nonni.[6][15][1]
  2. Whenever, every time that: Quando nevica, la scuola chiude.[6][15]
  3. If, in case, with the subjunctive.[6][4]
  4. whereas, while, with an adversative sense: Si lamenta, quando dovrebbe ringraziare.[6][15]
  5. Since, given that: Quando lo dice lui, ci si può fidare.[6][15]
  6. (colloquial) In which, when, after a word of time: il giorno quando ci siamo conosciuti.[6][15]

Noun

  1. The when, the time or moment: il come e il quando.[4][1]

Word family

  • quandoché
  • allorquando

Usage notes

Before a vowel quando is elided in a few phrases, such as quand'anche “even if” and quand'ecco “when suddenly”.[14][15] Di quando in quando means “from time to time”.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  3. ^ a b c d e Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3170
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ 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, 55
  10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 356
  12. ^ 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 Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ a b c d e f Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli