quanto

quanto¹ how much

Etymology tree of quanto¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin quantus

Italian quanto

From the same root · quanto¹

Latin aliquantus ← quantus

Latin quantulus ← quantus

Latin quantuscumque ← quantus

Pronunciation

• /ˈkwan.to/^[1]

Forms

quanto (feminine quanta, masculine plural quanti, feminine plural quante)^[1] In the singular it may be elided before a vowel: quant'è?.^[2][3] Old Lombard has an unstressed form quan.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin quantus (“how great, how much”), with the adverb from its neuter quantum.^[6][7][8][9] The Latin word is formed from quam (“how, as”), which belongs with quis (“who”) (see chi), and is the correlative of tantus (“so great”).^{[6][7][10][5]} Wiktionary gives as an alternative Proto-Indo-European *kʷéh₂onts (“how much, how many”).^[1] Umbrian panta has the same formation.^[10]

The word is panromance: French quant (only in ⟨quant à⟩ “as for”), Occitan cant, Catalan quant, Spanish cuanto, Sardinian cantu and Romanian cât.^[7][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's earliest record is the comparative use, “as much as”, in a Florentine bankers' account book of 1211.^[6] The relative “all those who” follows in Patecchio in the 12th or 13th century, and “all that” in Giacomo da Lentini before 1250.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The interrogative adjective is in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century: “Quanti cavalieri sono quelli che fanno questa uccisione?” (How many knights are those doing this slaughter?).^[6][5] The exclamative use is in Bono Giamboni before 1292, and the noun il quanto “quantity” in Dante, as in “nel quale e nel quanto” (in quality and in quantity, Paradiso 2).^[6][12] In Florence in the 14th and 15th centuries it could also mean “likewise”.^[4]

From it come quantità, at the end of the 13th century, quantunque “although” before 1342, and quantomeno, written as one word from 1948.^[6] Many conjunctions and phrases are built on it: in quanto, per quanto, quanto a and quanto basta.^[8]

Timeline

• 1211 – A Florentine bankers' book uses quanto in a comparison.^[6]
• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses it for “all that”.^[6]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it in exclamations.^[6]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses it in a question.^[6]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses il quanto for “quantity”.^[6]
• Before 1342 – Quantunque is first recorded.^[6]
• 1948 – Camillo Sbarbaro writes quantomeno as one word.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. how much, how many, in questions: quanti biglietti ti servono?^[8][2][13]
2. In exclamations, what a lot of: quanta neve è caduta!^[8][2][13]
3. As a relative, all the … that, as much as: mangia quanto pane vuoi.^[8][13][3]

Pronoun

1. How much, how many: quanto costa?, in quanti siete venuti?^[8][9][14]
2. What, all that: ha fatto quanto poteva.^[9][1]

Adverb

1. How much, to what extent, in questions and exclamations: quanto mi sei mancato!^[13][9]
2. As, as much as, in comparisons, often with tanto: è alto quanto suo fratello.^[13][8]

Noun

1. il quanto: the amount, the quantity.^[12][14]

Word family

• quantità
• quantitativo
• quantunque
• quantomeno
• quantificare

quanto² quantum

Pronunciation

• /ˈkwan.to/^[1]

Forms

quanto m (plural quanti)^[1]

Etymology

The physics term is borrowed from German Quantum, a word that the German physicist Max Planck introduced in 1900 in the form New Latin quantum for the amount of energy given off by an atomic particle.^[7][6][2] The GDLI calls it a learned rendering of the scientific Latin word.^[15] That form is quantum, the neuter of quantus, used as a noun.^[14][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Nocentini date it to 1927;^[8][7][6] DELI's first record is the Enciclopedia italiana of 1929.^[8][7][6]

Semantic evolution

The adjectives quantistico and quantico are recorded from 1930 (Nocentini dates quantistico to 1924), and quantizzare from 1959.^[6][7] Carlo Emilio Gadda wrote of admiring in Proust a sense of relativity that is like the method of modern fisica dei quanti.^[15]

Timeline

• 1927 – Quanto “quantum” is first recorded.^[8][7]
• 1929 – The Enciclopedia italiana uses it.^[6]
• 1930 – Quantistico and quantico appear in the Enciclopedia italiana.^[6]
• 1959 – Quantizzare is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (physics) A quantum, the smallest amount that a physical quantity can take, which changes only by multiples of it: teoria dei quanti.^[8][2][14]
2. (physics) The elementary particle associated with a field of force, such as the photon.^[2][15]

Word family

• quantistico
• quantico
• quantizzare
• quantizzazione