Etymologically
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secondo

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Pronunciation

  • /seˈkon.do/[1]

Forms

secondo (feminine seconda, masculine plural secondi, feminine plural seconde)[1] Old forms include secunno, segondo and sicondo.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin secundus (“following; second; favourable”), an old participle of sequor (“to follow”), so properly “the one that follows, comes after”.[3][4][5][1] The preposition continues secundum (“behind, after; according to”), the neuter of the adjective used as an adverb and preposition in Latin.[4][5][6] The adjective is also Old French segonz (modern French second), Occitan segon, Catalan segon, Spanish segundo and Portuguese segundo, and the preposition seon and según; selon was crossed with longum (“along”).[4][7][6]

Prati and Meyer-Lübke take the Italian adjective for a literary word, and DEI says that it is not of fully popular tradition in the Romance languages, but points to dialect forms such as Venetian segondo, Lombard segond, Friulian seont and Emilian sgond.[8][7][6] The Latin adjective was also borrowed into Old Irish ségund.[6]

In Latin the word goes back to Proto-Italic *sekʷondo- (“following”), and it came to be used as the ordinal number for “second”.[9][1] Its favourable senses come from the wind or the current that follows a boat from behind.[1][10] The root is Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”), also in Ancient Greek ἕπομαι (hépomai) and Lithuanian sekti.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a Veronese document of 1205, published by Alfredo Stussi, for the ordinal number.[3][5] The preposition first appears in secundo ke “according as”, in the Breve of Montieri of 1219.[3][5] Brunetto Latini, before 1294, uses it for “in the way required”: “Rector è quelli che 'nsegna questa scienzia secondo le regole e' comandamenti dell'arte” (the rhetorician is the one who teaches this science according to the rules and precepts of the art).[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the adjective for “inferior in value” before 1321, and Boccaccio for “favourable” in 1353.[3] The preposition meant “according to someone” in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century, and Galileo used it for “along, in the direction of” in 1630–1631.[3] A seconda “downstream, with the wind” is in Dante, and a seconda di “according to” in Anton Maria Salvini before 1729.[3]

As a noun, secondo became the unit of time and of angle, the sixtieth part of a minute, in Egnazio Danti in 1578.[3] A duellist's assistant was a secondo in 1605, and a boxer's in 1942, a sense copied from English second.[3] The main course of a meal is recorded as secondo in 1950.[3] Secondino, a prison warder, was first an assistant to the head gaoler: the word was born in Lombardy, where it is recorded in 1812.[3][4]

In music English took secondo in 1792, and German in 1802, for the lower part in a piano duet and the pianist who plays it.[11]

Timeline

  • 1205 – The ordinal is recorded in a Veronese document.[3][5]
  • 1219 – Secundo ke “according as” is recorded at Montieri.[3][5]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses the preposition for “in the way required”.[3]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses a seconda and the sense “inferior”.[3]
  • 1353 – Boccaccio uses the adjective for “favourable”.[3]
  • 1578 – Egnazio Danti uses the noun for the unit of time.[3]
  • 1605 – The sense “second in a duel” is recorded.[3]
  • 1792 – English secondo is first recorded in music.[11]
  • 1812 – Secondino “prison warder” is recorded in Lombardy.[3]
  • 1942 – The sense “second in boxing” is recorded, after English.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. second, coming next after the first in a series: È arrivata seconda nella gara di nuoto.[5][12][13]
  2. After the name of a ruler or pope, written in Roman numerals: the second of that name: Carlo II.[5][12][1]
  3. Another, a new one, compared with a first: Per lui è stata una seconda madre.[5][13]
  4. Lesser, of lower rank or importance; secondary.[5][13]
  5. (literary) favourable, propitious.[5][13]

Noun

  1. A unit of time, the sixtieth part of a minute; also a sixtieth part of a minute of arc: Ci ho messo pochi secondi.[5][1][14]
  2. The main course of a meal, after the first course of pasta or soup: Per secondo prendo il pesce.[3][15][1]
  3. The assistant of a duellist or of a boxer.[3][1][14]
  4. (nautical) The second in command of a ship.[1][13]

Preposition

  1. according to, in conformity with: Ho montato il mobile secondo le istruzioni.[5][12][13]
  2. In the opinion of, as stated by: secondo me, il Vangelo secondo Matteo.[5][12]
  3. Depending on, in proportion to; used alone as an answer, “it depends”.[5][12][13]
  4. Along, in the direction of: Piega il foglio secondo la diagonale.[5][13][16]

Word family

  • secondario
  • secondogenito
  • seconda
  • secondare
  • secondariamente
  • secondino
  • secondoché
  • secondogenitura
  • secondarietà
  • microsecondo
  • millisecondo
  • nanosecondo
  • secondamente

Usage notes

Secondo che with the subjunctive means “according to whether”, and a seconda di “depending on”.[5][12][3] After the name of a ruler or pope the ordinal is written in Roman numerals and placed after the name.[5][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w 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 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 q r De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3438
  7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 904
  9. ^ a b 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 Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  11. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  12. ^ a b c d e f 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 c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ a b Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
  15. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli