tardo

Forms

tardo (feminine tarda, masculine plural tardi, feminine plural tarde)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tardus (“slow”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin adjective already meant “slow”, “late” and “dull”, and it continues in Italian and in the western Romance languages.^[3][5] Meyer-Lübke lists among its outcomes Logudorese tardu and French tard, Occitan tard and Catalan tard.^[6] The adverb tardi goes back to Latin tarde (“slowly, late”), and tardivo to Vulgar Latin *tardīvus.^[2][7]

The origin of the Latin word is unknown.^[2][3][8] DELI notes that it looks structurally like Ancient Greek βραδύς (bradús, “slow”), which has the same meaning.^[2] De Vaan rejects a link with Ancient Greek τέρυ (téru, “weak”) and with an Indic word for “young” as weak in meaning and impossible in form.^[8] Devoto took the vowel ⟨ar⟩, where ⟨or⟩ would be expected, as a sign that the word came into Latin from a rustic, Osco-Umbrian tradition, and compared the formation of Latin mollis (“soft”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Guittone d'Arezzo, who died before 1294, with the sense “slow”.^[2] The literary sense “lazy, not quick to act” follows in Zucchero Bencivenni in 1310.^[2] GRADIT dates the word to before 1313 and Zingarelli to 1268.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

In Dante slowness can be a sign of gravity: in Limbo there were people con occhi tardi e gravi (“with slow and grave eyes”, Inferno IV, 112).^[10][11] Petrarch used the word in 1374 for something that comes after the right moment and is therefore useless.^[2] In the old language it was also an adverb, “slowly” and “late”: in Paradiso XXII the sword of heaven cuts non … in fretta / né tardo (“neither in haste nor slowly”).^[12][10]

The figurative sense “dull, slow-witted” is recorded by Tommaseo in 1879, and the senses “well advanced (in time)” and “last, extreme” by Zingarelli in 1922.^[2] From 1963 dictionaries record its use for the last phase of a historical, artistic or literary period, and compounds such as tardogotico, tardorinascimentale and tardoromano.^[2] Latino tardo is the Latin of about the 2nd to the 5th century AD, and medicine speaks of a polso tardo, a pulse that rises and falls slowly.^[11] Derivatives include tardezza (before 1294), the jocular tardona, an older woman who dresses and acts young (1942), and tardone, a slow, lazy person (1960).^[2]

As a tempo mark tardo means “slow”: it is recorded in Italian music in 1615 and in German in 1728.^[13]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses tardo “slow”.^[2]
• 1310 – Zucchero Bencivenni has the sense “lazy, not prompt”.^[2]
• 1374 – Petrarch uses it for what comes too late to be of use.^[2]
• 1615 – Tardo is recorded as a musical term.^[13]
• 1728 – The musical term is recorded in German.^[13]
• 1879 – Tommaseo records the figurative sense “dull-witted”.^[2]
• 1922 – Zingarelli records the senses “well advanced” and “last, extreme”.^[2]
• 1942 – Tardona is recorded.^[2]
• 1963 – The use for the late phase of a period, as in tardogotico, is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. slow in moving or acting; sluggish, lazy: Dopo la caduta era tardo nei movimenti.^[4][14][11]
2. (figurative) Slow to understand, dull-witted: Non è tardo, è solo distratto.^[4][14][10]
3. Well advanced in time, late: in tarda età, in old age.^[4][10][15]
4. Of a historical or cultural period, belonging to its last phase: il tardo Barocco.^[4][16][17]
5. Coming too late, belated: un tardo rimorso.^[4][16][10]
6. (literary) Slow and grave, solemn: Genti v'eran con occhi tardi e gravi (Dante).^[10][15]
7. (obsolete) Of plants or fruit, late to ripen.^[10]

Adverb

1. (obsolete, literary) Slowly; late.^[4][10][12]

Word family

• tardezza
• tardona
• tardone
• tardamente
• tardizia

Related words

• tardare
• tardi
• tardivo
• tardità
• tardigrado
• Latin tardus

Usage notes

As the first element of compounds for periods and styles it is written together with the second word: tardogotico, tardoantico.^[2][16][11]

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 n o p q r Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3720
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 976
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 438
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana