tranne

Etymology

It is from Italian tra’ (“draw (imperative)”) + ne (“of it”): the second person singular imperative of the verb, followed by the enclitic particle, so literally “take (it) out of it, leave it out”.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} DELI and Nocentini start from the full imperative Old Italian traine, shortened with an apostrophe, as Dante wrote it.^[2][3] Carlo Merlo objected that the full form would have given a single /n/, and held that the double consonant was remade on fanne, danne and vanne, where doubling after the imperative is regular, as in fammi and dammi;^[2][3][7] Nocentini and Sabatini–Coletti accept this analogy, and DELI thinks the objection deserves attention.^[2][3][7] The verb is Latin trahō (“to draw, drag”), under which Meyer-Lübke lists the word.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Dante's Inferno (canto 29), where the phrase is still two words with an object: Tra' mene Stricca, / che seppe far le temperate spese, “except me Stricca, who knew how to spend in moderation”, an ironic list of Sienese spendthrifts, and a few lines later tra' ne la brigata “except the gang”.^{[9][10][2][11]} DELI dates it 1300–1313, GRADIT before 1313, Zingarelli 1282.^[2][4][12]

Semantic evolution

As a single word, a preposition meaning “except”, tranne is used by Torquato Tasso in the 16th century: in the Gerusalemme liberata no knight is a stronger fighter than Tancredi “(tranne Rinaldo)”, except Rinaldo.^[9][11][10] Fra Giordano had used trattone, from the past participle, in the same sense.^[10] The compound conjunction tranne che “unless, except that” is recorded in 1961.^[2]

Because it began as a verb with an object, tranne takes a following personal pronoun in the object form: tranne me, tranne te.^[7]

Timeline

• 1300–1313 – Dante writes tra' ne and tra' mene.^[2][9]
• 16th century – Torquato Tasso uses the single word tranne.^[11][10]
• 1961 – Tranne che “unless” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Preposition

1. except, but, apart from, usually with tutto, tutti, niente or nessuno: Hanno risposto tutti all'invito tranne mio cugino.^[4][5][7]
2. With an infinitive, introducing an exception: Ha fatto di tutto tranne studiare.^[5]
3. tranne che: except, apart from (followed by a phrase): Mi trovo bene con tutti tranne che con il nuovo capo.^[5][12]

Conjunction

1. tranne che (with the subjunctive): unless: Domani si parte presto, tranne che non piova a dirotto.^[5][12][6]

Related words

• trarre
• Latin traho

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
7. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ a b c d Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
11. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3861
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli