stanotte

Etymology

It is from Italian sta (“this”) + notte (“night”), written as one word.^[2][3][1] “Sta” is the short form of questa, so the compound comes from the phrase “(que)sta notte”.^[4][5][6][1] GRADIT derives it from “istanotte” by loss of the first syllable;^[7][8] Tommaseo quotes Bembo on the forms “istanotte”, “istamane” and “istasera”, with a prefixed “i”.^[7][8] DEI and Prati refer the first part to Old Italian esto (“this”), which Körting traces to Latin iste (“this, that”).^[9][10][11] The same pattern gave stamane, stamattina and stasera.^[2][12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the Novellino, at the end of the 13th century, already with the sense “in the coming night”: Vedi, donna, l'uscio mi lascerai aperto stanotte (“Look, lady, you will leave the door open for me tonight”).^[2][13]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word could point to the night in progress, the night just past or the night to come, and it still does.^[2][7] Boccaccio's Decameron has a lover who wants to come to the lady “tonight” (Voglio stanotte poter venir da voi).^[13][8] Spellings varied: Machiavelli wrote stanocte for letters received “last night”, and writers as late as the 19th century still wrote sta notte as two words.^[13]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – The Novellino has the first record.^[2]
• 14th century – Boccaccio uses stanotte in the Decameron.^[13][8]
• Early 16th century – Machiavelli writes stanocte.^[13]

Meanings

Adverb

1. tonight; last night: during the night now going on, the one just past or the one about to begin: Stanotte non ho chiuso occhio.^{[7][3][14][1]}

Related words

• stamattina
• stasera
• notte
• stamane

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
7. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3618
10. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 947
11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli