cosa Italian · revision 37437

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1190, Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, Contrasto (Genoese)|origins=la causa}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Central and Southern Italy: /ˈkɔ.za/, /ˈkɔ.sa/^(Wiktionary)

+ * Northern Italy: /ˈkɔ.za/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cosa''' ''f'' (plural cose)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Italian forms include [[m|roa-oit|caosa]], [[m|roa-oit|chosa]], [[m|roa-oit|cossa]] and [[m|roa-oit|colsa]].^(TLIO)^(LEI) The diphthong survives in the South and in parts of the North, as in Neapolitan [[m|nap|caosa]].^(LEI|13, 386)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|causa|t=cause, reason; lawsuit]], which through the sense “affair, business” took the place of [[m|la|rēs|t=thing]] in speech.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(GDLI) The Latin diphthong “au” became “o”, as in other popular words;^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) the learned form of the same word is [[causa]].^(Wiktionary)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The interrogative pronoun “cosa” “what” is a shortening of [[che cosa]].^(Wiktionary)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The word is continued throughout Romance except in Romanian: [[fr|chose]], [[oc|causa]], [[ca|cosa]], [[es|cosa]], [[pt|cousa]] and Dalmatian [[m|dlm|kauza]].^(DEI|1129)^(LEI|13, 386)^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) Körting notes that Latin “causa” was already used as a neutral word for “something” in Cassian.^(Körting 1907)

+

+ The Latin noun was spelt [[m|la|caussa]] in older inscriptions.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Nocentini 2010) Its origin is uncertain: one proposal, which Nocentini thinks the most likely, takes it from a [[itc-pro|*kaud-ta]] related to [[m|la|cūdō|t=to strike]], with the original sense “blow, first push”;^(Nocentini 2010)^(de Vaan 2008) Ernout and Meillet doubt any Indo-European origin.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in the Genoese part of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras' ''Contrasto'' (c. 1190).^(TLIO) At the end of the 12th century the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio uses ''cosa'' for household goods and merchandise.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old Italian ''cosa'' already had its extremely general sense, “anything real or imagined”, as in Dante's “Temer si dee di sole quelle cose / c'hanno potenza di fare altrui male” (one should fear only those things that have the power to harm others, ''Inferno'' 2).^(GDLI)^(TLIO) It also meant a material object, a person, a feeling, a quality, a deed, an event (1282, Ristoro d'Arezzo) and the subject of a speech, and in the plural public affairs (Brunetto Latini).^(TLIO)^(DELI 1999) The old sense “cause, reason”, as in ''per questa cosa'' “for this reason”, lasted from Boccaccio's ''Fiammetta'' (1343–1344) into literary use.^(LEI|13, 386) Dante (1304–1308) uses it for a work of thought or literature.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The masculine [[coso]], a thing or person whose name one cannot or will not say, is a typically Tuscan word first found in Francesco Berni (before 1535), and ''cosa'' was used in the same way for a woman from Giovan Battista Fagiuoli (before 1742).^(DELI 1999) ''Cosa'' for ''che cosa'' has old literary examples and is common in speech, including Tuscan; many 19th-century grammarians accepted it, against the purists.^(DELI 1999) In 1990s journalism ''Cosa rossa'' named a left-wing political grouping still in the making.^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1190 – Raimbaut de Vaqueiras uses ''cosa'' in the Genoese verses of his ''Contrasto''.^(TLIO)

+ * Late 12th century – The Ritmo di Sant'Alessio uses it for “household goods”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1282 – Ristoro d'Arezzo uses it for “event”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for “part of reality” and, in the plural, for “public affairs”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1304–1308 – Dante uses it for “work of thought”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1343–1344 – Boccaccio's ''Fiammetta'' uses it for “cause, reason”.^(LEI|13, 386)

+ * Before 1535 – Francesco Berni uses the masculine ''coso''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1742 – Fagiuoli uses ''cosa'' for a woman whose name is not said.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1865 – The verb ''cosare'' is first recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|thing]]: any object, concrete or abstract, real or imagined: ''in soffitta ci sono cose vecchissime''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(in the plural, with a possessive)'' One's [[m|en|belongings]]: ''metti in valigia le tue cose''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # Something that happens or is done: a fact, [[m|en|event]], [[m|en|matter]]: ''la cosa si è risolta da sola''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # Something said, heard or known: ''mi ha raccontato cose interessanti''.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # Food: ''a cena preferisco cose semplici''.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(law)'' Anything that can be the object of a legal right: ''cosa mobile'', ''cosa giudicata''.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(philosophy)'' ''cosa in sé'', the [[m|en|thing-in-itself]] of Kant.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' What's-her-name, a woman whose name one cannot remember or will not say.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(euphemistic, in the plural)'' ''le cose'', menstruation.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # ''(interrogative)'' [[m|en|what]], short for ''che cosa'': ''cosa fai stasera?''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[qualcosa]]

+ * [[coso]]

+ * [[cosare]]

+ * [[cosina]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[causa]]

+ * [[fr|chose]]

+ * [[es|cosa]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Fixed expressions include ''la cosa pubblica'', the State,^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020) ''per prima cosa'', first of all,^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) and the proverb ''cosa fatta capo ha'', what is done is done.^(Zingarelli 2010) The ''s'' is voiced in the North and may be voiced or voiceless in Central and Southern Italy.^(Wiktionary)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}