Etymologically
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un

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Pronunciation

Forms

un m (apocopated)[1] The feminine is una, elided before a vowel; the masculine un takes no apostrophe (un amico, un'amica).[2][3]

Etymology

It is the shortened form of uno,[1][4][3] which is inherited from Latin ūnus (“one”).[5][6][1] The Latin numeral comes from the older form oinos, from Proto-Italic *oinos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos (“one, single”).[1][7] The same word is Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (ains), Old English ān, the source of English one and an, Old Irish óen and Lithuanian víenas.[7][6][1] Its Romance descendants are French un, Occitan un, Catalan un, Spanish uno, Portuguese um, Sardinian unu and Romanian un.[6][8]

In all Romance languages the numeral also became the indefinite article, in contrast with the definite article.[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the phrase d'in un tempo (“at one and the same time”) in the Ritmo laurenziano, at the end of the 12th century.[5] The indefinite article is first recorded in Dante's Vita Nuova (1293–1294).[5]

Semantic evolution

Latin unus meant “one, single” and “the same”; already in Plautus it can refer to a single unspecified person (unam vidi mulierem, “I saw a woman”), the first step towards the indefinite article.[5][9] By Dante (1300–1313) un and uno are also used as a pronoun, “someone”, and Boccaccio (1348–1353) uses the article before a number in the sense “about, roughly”.[5]

The choice between un and uno settled gradually: older and literary Italian had un before s followed by a consonant and before z (un zero), and before pn- everyday usage is now moving from uno to un (un pneumatico).[3][9] Tuscan and literary usage also cut the pronoun uno to un before a consonant.[9]

Timeline

  • Second half of the 12th century – First record of the numeral.[4][6]
  • Late 12th century – The Ritmo laurenziano has d'in un tempo.[5]
  • 1293–1294 – Dante's Vita Nuova uses the indefinite article.[5]
  • 1300–1313 – Dante uses the word as a pronoun, “someone”.[5]
  • 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses it before a number for “about”.[5]

Meanings

Article

  1. a, an: the masculine singular indefinite article before a vowel or a single consonant: un amico, un libro.[3][10][1]
  2. Before a number, about, roughly.[5]

Numeral

  1. one, before a masculine noun: un chilo di mele.[4][1]

Pronoun

  1. (literary) Short for the pronoun uno, one, someone.[1][9]

Usage notes

Un is used before masculine words that begin with a vowel or with a consonant other than s followed by a consonant, z, x, gn, ps and pn, which take uno (un orso, un treno, but uno studente, uno zio).[3][10] Before a semivowel i (uno iato) or y modern usage generally has uno, but before j pronounced as a consonant un (un jet).[3] Because un is a shortened form and not an elided one, it never takes an apostrophe, while the feminine does: un altro, un'altra.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  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 f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  10. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse