questo Italian · revision 37453

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1186, Fabriano charter|origins=la-vul *eccum istum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈkwes.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''questo''' (feminine questa, masculine plural questi, feminine plural queste)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-vul|*eccum istum|t=behold, this one]], from [[la|eccum|t=here he is!]] and [[m|la|iste|t=that (of yours), this]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The first part also survives in [[ecco]], the second in [[roa-oit|esto]], which still lived on in Umbria and the Marche, and in the unstressed [['sto]] of “stamattina” and “stasera”.^(DEI|3178)^(Wiktionary)^(REW 1935) DEI thought a source in “eccu iste” more likely than one in “atque iste”, because of Romanian and Provençal forms built with [[la|ecce]].^(DEI|3178)

+

+ The same compound is found across Romance: [[fro|cist]] (modern [[fr|ce]]), [[oc|cest]], [[ca|aquest]], [[es|aqueste]], [[sc|custu]], [[fur|chest]] and [[ro|acest]],^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) while Spanish and Portuguese mostly use the simple [[es|este]].^(REW 1935)^(Körting 1907)

+

+ Latin [[m|la|eccum]] is [[m|la|ecce|t=behold]] joined to a pronoun, probably the accusative “hunc”.^(OLD 2012) [[m|la|iste]] goes back to [[itc-pro|*esto-]]; its second part is the pronoun [[ine-pro|*so-]], [[ine-pro|*to-]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is a charter from Fabriano of 1186, where ''questo'' points to someone or something near the speaker in space or time.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) A vernacular text from the mountains near Pistoia has ''Questa cosa sì è de Sancto Marcello'' (“this thing belongs to San Marcello”).^(GDLI|15, 129)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Questo'' marks what is near the speaker;^(Treccani 2011)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) ''quello'' marks what is far away, and in Tuscan and literary use ''codesto'' marks what is near the listener.^(Treccani 2011)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Dante's ''Purgatorio'' has ''Questa montagna è tale, / che sempre al cominciar di sotto è grave'' (“this mountain is such that it is always hard at the start, below”).^(GDLI|15, 129)

+

+ In expressions of time it names the period now running or just coming (''quest'anno'', ''questa sera''), and the shortened forms ''stamattina'', ''stasera'' and ''stanotte'' come from the old ''esto''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(REW 1935) It can refer back to what has just been said, mean “such, of this kind”, and stand for “my” in emphatic references to one's own body.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ Older texts and dialects have many forms: ''quésso'', ''quisto'', ''quistu''.^(GDLI|15, 129) In central and southern Italy a type from “eccu ipse” (''quissu'') takes over its role, as already in Jacopone and Buccio di Ranallo (''quessa'' at Ancona in 1397); in the north, Friulian, Ladin and Piedmontese have ''chést'' and western Emilian ''cus(t)''.^(DEI|3178)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1186 – First record, in a charter from Fabriano.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * Early 14th century – Dante's ''Questa montagna è tale'' in the ''Purgatorio''.^(GDLI|15, 129)

+ * 1397 – The southern-type form ''quessa'' is recorded at Ancona.^(DEI|3178)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|this]], these: of a person or thing near the speaker in space or time: ''questa borsa è nuova''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # In expressions of time, of the period now running or about to come: ''quest'estate andiamo al mare''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # Of someone or something just mentioned or about to be mentioned: ''questo autore lo studieremo domani''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # Such, of this kind: ''con questo traffico faremo tardi''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(emphatic)'' For “my”, with parts of the body: ''l'ho costruito con queste mani''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # This one, these ones: ''prendo questo''.^(Treccani 2011)^(Wiktionary)

+ # This thing, this matter: ''questo non me l'avevi detto''.^(Wiktionary)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[quello]]

+ * [['sto]]

+ * [[ecco]]

+ * [[codesto]]

+ * [[questi]]

+ * [[la|iste]]

+ * [[la|eccum]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Questo'' is set against ''quello'' and, in Tuscan and literary Italian, against ''codesto''.^(Treccani 2011)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Common phrases are ''per questo'' “that is why”, ''a questo punto'' “at this point” and ''con tutto questo'' “for all that”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}