uguanno

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *hōque annō (“in this year”), an alteration of Latin hōc annō, the ablative of hic (“this”) with annus (“year”).^[1][2][3][4] Sabatini–Coletti, the Treccani and Gabrielli give the starting point as hōcque annō, and Körting explains hocque as formed on the model of usque.^[5][6][7][8]

The same phrase gave Old French oan, ouan, Old Occitan ogan, Catalan anguany, Spanish hogaño and Romansh uonn.^[2][8][9] The Portuguese word oganho is from Spanish.^[2][8][9] From the phrase came Late Latin hocannivus (“of this year”), in a scholiast on Horace.^[9] For the sense of never after a negation, GDLI does not rule out an influence of Latin unquam (“ever”).^[10]

Latin hōc is probably an instrumental of that pronoun.^[11] De Vaan derives it from the masculine instrumental of Proto-Indo-European *gʰi-ḱe (“this, here”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded from 1283, as an adverb meaning “in the course of this year”.^[2][3] DEI's 13th-century record is in Matasalà.^[9] An early Florentine text records a delivery of grano d'uguanno, “this year's wheat”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio and Sacchetti used the word.^[9][12] In the Decameron a woman explains that a young man courted her, and “out of fear and love I had to become his friend this year” (mi convenne uguanno divenire amica).^[10][12] After a negation it came to mean “never”: io non avrò uguanno pace con lei (Boccaccio).^[3][10] By extension it also meant “lately”.^[10]

The forms varied: anguano in the 13th century, uanno in Sercambi, unguanno from the 16th century.^[9][10] Ariosto and Aretino still used uguanno in talk of harvests.^[10] In the 19th century Tommaseo noted that the Tuscan countryside still said unguanno.^[12] Today the word is archaic, literary or regional.^[3][1]

Timeline

• 1283 – First record.^[2][3]
• 16th century – The form unguanno appears.^[9]
• 1688 – Unguannotto is recorded in Minucci for a young fish.^[9]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (archaic, regional) this year, in the course of the current year: Uguanno il raccolto è stato scarso.^[3][4][5][1]
2. (archaic) After a negation, never: io non avrò uguanno pace con lei (Boccaccio).^[3][10]

Word family

• uguannotto

Related words

• anno
• vannino
• Latin annus

Usage notes

Unguanno is a variant.^[4][5][1] From it came uguannotto, an inexperienced person (Buonarroti), and unguannotto “fry, young fish”.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
6. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3944
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET