Etymologically
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ultimamente

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Pronunciation

  • /ul.ti.maˈmen.te/[1]

Forms

ultimamente[1] An old form is utimamente.[2]

Etymology

It is from Italian ultimo (“last”) + -mente.[3][1][4][5] The adjective ultimo is a learned borrowing of Latin ultimus (“farthest, last”), the superlative of *ulter (“beyond”), related to oltre.[6][7] The adverb suffix -mente continues the ablative Latin mente of mēns (“mind”), from phrases of the type dēvōtā mente (“with a devout mind”).[6][7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dante's Convivio (1304–1308), with the sense “in the end, finally, as a conclusion”.[6][3] Dante also uses it in the Purgatorio: Ultimamente ci si grida: Crasso…, “last of all the cry here is: Crassus…”.[8]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word marked the last step of a story or an argument: Boccaccio writes that a man, fearing worse, ultimamente drove out the first fear with the second.[8][3] This sense is now archaic.[5][9][10]

The modern sense, “lately, recently”, is recorded by DELI from Francesco Redi in 1670.[6] The GDLI quotes it from Giovanni Morelli and then from Bernardo Tasso, Muratori, Foscolo and Leopardi, who wrote to his brother that he had written to him ultimamente.[2] Tommaseo lists it second, after the old sense.[8]

Timeline

  • 1304–1308 – Dante uses ultimamente “in the end” in the Convivio.[6][3]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses the word in the Decameron.[8]
  • 1670 – Francesco Redi uses it for “lately”.[6]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. lately, recently, in the last while: Ultimamente dormo poco.[3][5][9][1]
  2. (archaic) In the end, finally, as a conclusion.[3][5][9][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 513
  3. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  9. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  10. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli