Etymologically
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quello

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Pronunciation

Forms

quello (feminine quella, masculine plural quelli, feminine plural quelle)[1] Before a noun it changes like the article: quel and plural quei before most consonants, quello and plural quegli before a vowel, s plus consonant, z and gn, and quell’ before a vowel.[2][3] Old and dialect forms include qélo, quillo and quillu.[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *eccum ille (“behold, that one”), from Latin eccum (“here he is!”) and ille (“that”), in the accusative “eccu illum”.[5][6][7][1] Nocentini explains the compound as a renewal: Latin “ille” had become the definite article and shrunk to one syllable, so the demonstrative of the third person was rebuilt with a pointing element, “ecce” in Gallo-Romance, “eccu” in Italo-Romance and “accu” in Ibero-Romance.[6]

The compound is panromance: Old French cil (modern French celui), Catalan aquell, Spanish aquel, Portuguese aquele, Sardinian cuddu, Friulian chel and Romanian acel.[6][8][9]

Latin “eccum” is ecce (“behold”) joined to a pronoun, probably the accusative “hunc”.[10] The second element, “ille”, also gave the Italian article and the pronouns egli, ella and lo.[8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Capuan placito of 960, with the feminine plural kelle; the masculine quello appears in a Florentine bankers' book of 1211.[5][7][11] It points to a person or thing far from both speaker and listener, or one already mentioned.[5]

Semantic evolution

The pronoun use “that one; that which” is recorded at the end of the 13th century in the Novellino.[5] From before 1558 (Francesco D'Ambra) quello is also used, in popular speech, to call a person whose name one does not know or will not say.[5][3]

In the modern system quello marks what is far away and questo what is near the speaker;[3][11] Tuscan and literary Italian also have codesto for what is near the listener, while elsewhere quello covers that too.[3][11] Emphatic and euphemistic uses developed: una di quelle “a prostitute”, and mandare a quel paese “to tell someone to go to hell”.[12][3] The construction quello che è… has been studied by Ornella Castellani Pollidori (1990).[5]

Timeline

  • 960 – The feminine plural kelle in the Capuan placito.[5][7]
  • 1211 – Quello in a Florentine bankers' book.[5]
  • Late 13th century – The pronoun “that one, that which” in the Novellino.[5]
  • Before 1558 – Used to call a person whose name is not known, in Francesco D'Ambra.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. that, those: of a person or thing far from both speaker and listener in space or time: vedi quella torre?[7][13][3]
  2. Strengthened by lì or là, or by stesso, medesimo: quel quadro lì, in quello stesso anno.[7][13]
  3. Of something already mentioned or known to the listener: hai poi risolto quel problema con la banca?[7][11][3]
  4. (emphatic) In exclamations, with a relative clause understood: mi ha fatto una di quelle scenate![7][3]
  5. Before an adjective or noun followed by di and a name: quel furbo di tuo cugino.[13][3]

Pronoun

  1. That one, those ones: non questa giacca, quella.[1][7]
  2. Quello che: what, the thing that: non capisco quello che vuoi.[5][3]

Usage notes

Quello is set against questo and, in Tuscan and literary Italian, against codesto.[3][13] The old singular masculine subject pronoun quegli “that man” is now literary.[14][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  4. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 15, 109
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  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. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET