sì

Forms

sì^[1] Dialect forms of the word for “yes” include Abruzzese scì, Sicilian and Calabrian sini and Neapolitan sino.^[2] Old Italian strengthened it as mai sì and ma sì, and Venetian and Milanese as sì po or po sì.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sīc (“so, thus”).^{[3][4][5][6][1]} As a word of assent it is short for the phrase ⟨sīc est⟩ “it is so”, used like ⟨ita est⟩.^[3][4][2][6]

The adverb “so” is panromance: French si, Occitan si, Catalan si, Spanish si, Portuguese si and Sardinian si, while Romanian și became the conjunction “and”.^[4] In Old Italian, Old French and Provençal the word also meant “until”.^[7] As the word for “yes” it is shared with Spanish sí, Portuguese sim and Sardinian, whereas French uses si only to answer a negative question.^[4][7] The other languages of France chose other words: Old Occitan oc, from Latin hoc (“this”), and Old French oïl, from ⟨hoc ille⟩, the source of modern French oui.^[2]

Latin “sīc” goes back to an older ⟨sīce⟩, made of the deictic particle -ce and the locative of an old demonstrative Proto-Indo-European *só, meaning “in this way”.^[4][8][1] Early inscriptions write it ⟨seic⟩.^[8] Nocentini compares the parallel formation Old High German so (“so”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adverb “so, so much”, placed before an adjective or adverb, is first recorded in the Umbrian confession formula of 1075–1080.^[3][4][5] The word of assent and the noun “assent, yes” follow at the end of the 13th century in the Novellino, where one character asks Conosceresti tu tuo barlione? and another answers Sì, messere (“Would you know your keg?” “Yes, sir”).^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

In old and literary Italian sì long kept the Latin sense “so, thus”, as in Dante's Sì cominciò lo mio duca a parlarmi (“So my leader began to speak to me”, Inferno 17.4).^[9][5] After a negative clause it also meant “until”, as in Boccaccio's non ristette sì fu a casa di lei (“he did not stop until he was at her house”); the GDLI takes this as a shortened sinché.^[9][5][10]

The plural i sì for votes in favour is recorded in a Sienese statute of 1288–1361.^[3] The phrase lingua del sì, “the language of sì”, is an old name for Italian.^[5] From the adverb “so” came the compounds sicché in the 13th century, siccome in its second half, sibbene and siffatto in the 14th century.^[4] The word for “yes” gave sissignore in 1891.^[4] In the modern language the senses “so, thus” and “so much” are literary, and the consecutive sì che and far sì che “to see to it that” are the main survivors.^[5][11]

Timeline

• 1075–1080 – The Umbrian confession formula uses sì “so, so much”.^[3]
• 13th century – Sicché appears.^[4]
• Late 13th century – The Novellino uses sì “yes” and the noun sì.^[3]
• 1288–1361 – A Sienese statute has the plural sì for votes in favour.^[3]
• 14th century – Sibbene and siffatto appear.^[4]
• 1891 – Sissignore is first recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. yes, as an answer that stands for a whole affirmative clause: “Ti piace il gelato?” “Sì.”^[5][12][1]
2. After di, standing for an affirmative clause: Credo di sì.^[5][13]
3. Stressing a statement, often with che: Questa sì che è una bella idea!^[12][14]
4. With ma, yielding after doubts or insistence: Ma sì, andiamo pure.^[5][12]
5. (literary) So, thus, in this way.^[5][11][1]
6. (literary) So, so much, before an adjective or adverb: sì dolce.^[5][11][1]
7. (literary) Repeated, both … and.^[5][11][1]

Conjunction

1. With che or da, so that, to such a degree that, and with fare, to see to it that: Bisogna far sì che nessuno resti escluso.^[5][11]
2. (old) Until, after a negative clause.^[5][9]

Noun

1. A yes, an assent; in the plural, the votes in favour: Il sì ha vinto il referendum.^[5][3][1]

Word family

• sicché
• siccome
• sibbene
• siffatto
• sissignore
• massì

Related words

• così
• se
• no
• Latin sīc
• Spanish sí

Usage notes

Sì doubles the consonant that follows it in Tuscan pronunciation.^[6][11] Common phrases include dire di sì “to say yes, to agree”, sì e no “barely, hardly” and un giorno sì e uno no “every other day”.^[5][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3487
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 l m n o p De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
13. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli