solo

Forms

solo (feminine sola, masculine plural soli, feminine plural sole, superlative solissimo)^[1] Old forms are sòlu and sulo.^[2] Poetry often shortens it to sol.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sōlus (“alone, only”);^[5][6][7][1] the adverb continues sōlum (“only”), the adverbial neuter of the adjective.^[6][8][1] In Old Italian, Old French and Old Occitan the adverbial form did not agree with its noun.^[9]

The word is found across the Romance languages except Romanian: French seul, Occitan sol, Catalan sol, Spanish solo and Portuguese só, and Sardinian solu in Logudorese.^[6][9][10] It also passed into Basque soil.^[10][9]

The origin of Latin ⟨sōlus⟩ is uncertain.^[11][1] DELI and Nocentini follow the older explanation from the particle of separation sē- with an adjective suffix ⟨-lo-⟩, as if “apart, by oneself”;^[5][6][12] de Vaan finds this hardly possible and suggests instead the root of Latin salvus (“safe, whole”) and sollus (“whole”), with ⟨sōlus⟩ first meaning “the whole, the one”.^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record of the adjective, “without company”, is in the poem of Uguccione da Lodi of the early 13th century, where gluttony is said to be glad to be alone: Quela malaeta gola / com volontiera se trova sola! “That cursed gluttony, how gladly it finds itself alone!”^[5][2] The adverb “only” follows before 1250 in Giacomo da Lentini: Molti creden tenere amistate / sol per pelare altrui “Many think they keep friendship only to fleece others”.^[5][13]

Semantic evolution

Petrarch writes Solo e pensoso i più deserti campi / vo mesurando, “Alone and thoughtful I go pacing the most deserted fields”.^[2] After a numeral the word came to mean “only, no more than” (due soli) before 1544.^[5] In the south of Italy the word also means “self”.^[9]

In music a solo marked a passage for one voice or instrument; from it came assolo (1706) and solista “soloist” (19th century).^[6][10][14] The musical noun passed into English as solo in 1695 and into French in 1703 and German in 1726;^[15][16] English also took the adjective in 1712.^[15][16] Solino, a detachable collar, is so called because it is separate from the shirt (18th century).^[6]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – The adjective in Uguccione da Lodi.^[5]
• Before 1250 – The adverb “only” in Giacomo da Lentini.^[5]
• 14th century – Solo che “except that”.^[10]
• Before 1544 – After numerals, “only, no more than”.^[5]
• 1695 – English solo in music.^[15][16]
• 1703 – French solo.^[15]
• 1706 – Assolo.^[6]
• 1712 – English solo as an adjective.^[15][16]
• 1726 – German Solo.^[15]
• 1876 – Solista.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Alone, without company: Il gatto è rimasto solo in casa tutto il giorno.^[7][17][4]
2. Lonely, without family, friends or support: Dopo il trasloco si sentiva molto sola.^[7][17]
3. Acting without help or the part of others, often da solo: Ha costruito la barca da solo.^[7][3]
4. (in the plural) With no one else present: Finalmente soli!^[7][17]
5. (before a noun) Only, single, sole: È la sola strada per il paese.^[7][4]
6. (before a plural noun) Reserved for, exclusively: ingresso per soli residenti.^[7][4]

Adverb

1. Only, just, merely: Ho solo un minuto.^[7][1][8]

Conjunction

1. (solo che) But, except that, (se solo) if only.^[1][7]

Noun

1. The only one: È stato il solo a ricordarsene.^[1][4]
2. (music) A solo, a piece or passage for one performer, also assolo.^[15][1]

Word family

• solamente
• soletto
• solingo
• soltanto
• assolo
• solista
• solistico
• solino

Related words

• solitario
• solitudine
• Latin sōlus
• English solo

Usage notes

Common phrases are da solo a solo “in private, face to face”, solo come un cane “all alone” and the proverb meglio soli che male accompagnati “better alone than in bad company”.^[7][17][8] Solo is not to be confused with suolo “ground”, from Latin solum (“ground”).^[18][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 356
3. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 e f g h Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
9. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3538
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 414
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 358
14. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 928
15. ^ a b c d e f g Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
16. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
17. ^ 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
18. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 359
19. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh