Etymologically
Log in

retro

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 07:47. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Forms

retro m (invariable)[1] Old forms include dereto, reto, rieto and rietro.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin retrō (“backwards, behind”).[2][4][5] Wiktionary treats it as inherited instead.[1] The Latin adverb is formed from the prefix re- (“back”) and the adverbial suffix seen in intrō (“inside”) and citrō (“on this side”); from about 300 it was also used as a preposition.[2][4][6]

The popular outcome of the Latin word is Old French riere, Old Occitan reire and old Spanish riedro; in Italian the inherited form lives on in dietro.[4][7][8] De Vaan accepts Klingenschmitt's derivation of the Latin prefix from Proto-Indo-European *ure (“back”) as the only acceptable etymology.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Forms with de come first: dereto in the inscription of San Clemente in Rome at the end of the 11th century and de retro in a Bolognese memorandum of 1282.[2] Dante uses retro for “behind” in the Commedia (1300–1313): pregando Stazio che venisse retro (“asking Statius to come behind”).[2][5][10]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian retro was an adverb and, with a or di, a preposition meaning “behind”;[2][11] Dante also used it for “backwards”.[2][11] By the 19th century the word was literary, and Tommaseo and Bellini found it alive mainly in compounds.[12]

As a noun, “the back part of something”, it appears in Carducci's “a c. 43 retro del codice” (1859), meaning the back of a leaf, and in the dictionaries from 1959.[2] It now names the back of a sheet, a coin or a building, and in colloquial speech it is short for retrobottega (the back shop) and, as a feminine noun, for retromarcia (reverse gear).[5][11] Latin vade retro, Satana is used jokingly to reject something unwelcome.[11][13]

Timeline

  • End of the 11th century – Dereto appears in the inscription of San Clemente.[2]
  • 1282 – De retro is recorded in a Bolognese memorandum.[2]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante uses retro for “behind”.[2][5]
  • 1859 – Carducci uses retro for the back of a manuscript leaf.[2]
  • 1959 – The noun “back part” is recorded in a dictionary.[2][14]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. (literary) behind, also a retro and di retro, (rare) backwards.[5][11][13]

Noun

  1. The back of a sheet, page or envelope, the verso: Ha scritto l'indirizzo sul retro della cartolina.[5][11][10]
  2. The reverse of a coin or medal.[5][10]
  3. The back of a building, opposite the front: Il garage è sul retro.[5][11]
  4. (colloquial) The back room of a shop, short for retrobottega.[5][10][15]

Word family

  • arretrare
  • arretrato
  • arretratezza
  • dietro
  • retrobottega
  • retromarcia
  • retrogrado
  • rétro
  • Latin retro

Usage notes

Vedi retro (“see over”) tells the reader to turn the page, and fronte retro means “double-sided”.[5][13] As a feminine noun, la retro is colloquial for retromarcia.[5] The adjective rétro “retro, old-fashioned” is a separate word, borrowed from French in 1980.[11][14][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 15, 934
  4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  13. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli