il Italian · revision 37460

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1211, Florentine account book|origins=la ille}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /il/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''il''' ''m'' sg (plural i, feminine la)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Italian and dialect forms include [[roa-oit|el]] (in Guittone d'Arezzo and Guido Cavalcanti) and, after a vowel in poetry, ''l’'' (''Galeotto fu 'l libro'').^(Prati 1951)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|ille|t=that]], from the accusative ⟨illum⟩ shortened in unstressed position before a noun.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto 1968|215) The article is a Romance innovation drawn from the Latin demonstrative; only Sardinian took its article from [[la|ipse]].^(Nocentini 2010) Its cognates are [[fr|le]], [[oc|le]], [[ca|el]], [[es|el]], [[pt|o]] and the suffixed article [[ro|-l]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Körting 1907)

+

+ How “il” arose beside [[lo]] is disputed.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary) Nocentini leaves open whether its “i-” continues the first vowel of ⟨ille⟩ or is a vowel added before a reduced ⟨l⟩.^(Nocentini 2010) Wiktionary takes the second view: “il” comes from an earlier “l’”, a reduced form of “lo”, with an “i-” added to ease pronunciation, pointing to Old Lombard texts that use “il” only as the article and “el” only as “he, him”.^(Wiktionary) DELI refers to the studies of Paul Aebischer and A. Ambrosini on how “il” and “lo” came to be distinguished.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ Devoto analyses Latin ⟨ille⟩ as a first element ⟨il-⟩, seen also in [[la|alius|t=other]] and in archaic ⟨olle⟩, and a second element, probably ⟨-ne⟩ assimilated to ⟨-le⟩, that marks demonstratives of distance in several Indo-European languages.^(Devoto 1968|215)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is a Florentine account book of 1211, where the article has the distributive sense “each, every”.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010) The ordinary sense, marking a thing or person as distinct from others of its kind, is recorded in Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ DELI dates the article's further uses: for a whole category (before 1348, Francesco da Barberino), with the old demonstrative force “this, that” (1300–1313, Dante), and for time, “during, on” (before 1348, Giovanni Villani).^(DELI 1999) Old Italian also had a pronoun ''il'' “him, it”, as in Dante's ''Sordello a sé il trasse'' (“Sordello drew him to himself”); it survives only in poetry.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(DEI|1930)

+

+ The rules that divide ''il'' from ''lo'' have shifted: ''il'' was once used before ''z'' and ''gn'' too (''il zio''), and before ''pn'' it is still common beside the prescribed ''lo'' (''il pneumatico'').^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Lombard and bureaucratic usage puts ''il'' before first names and surnames (''il Carlo'', ''il Rossi''), and before the surname of a famous man (''il Manzoni'').^(Zingarelli 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1211 – A Florentine account book has ''il'' “each, every”.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses the article for a particular thing or person.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1300–1313 – Dante uses ''il'' as a demonstrative, “this, that”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1348 – Francesco da Barberino uses the article for a category, and Giovanni Villani for a time (“on, during”).^(DELI 1999)

+ * 14th century – The pronoun ''il'' “him; to him” is recorded.^(DEI|1930)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Article===

+ # [[m|en|the|alt=The]], before masculine singular nouns beginning with a consonant other than ''s'' + consonant, ''z'', ''gn'', ''ps'', ''x'': ''il libro'', ''il cane''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # Before the surname of a famous man, a title with a name, or (regional, bureaucratic) a name or surname: ''il Manzoni'', ''il dottor Rossi''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # With a comparative, forming the relative [[m|en|superlative]]: ''il più alto''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Each, every; on, during: ''il sabato'' “on Saturdays”.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # ''(archaic, poetic)'' Him, it, as an object.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lo]]

+ * [[la]]

+ * [[i]]

+ * [[gli]]

+ * [[quello]]

+ * [[la|ille]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The plural is ''i'' (''gli'' before the words that take ''lo'').^(Prati 1951)^(Treccani 2011) With the prepositions ''a, da, di, in, su'' the article forms ''al, dal, del, nel, sul'';^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) ''col'' (with ''con'') is now often written ''con il''.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) In poetry, after a vowel, it can lose its vowel: ''Galeotto fu 'l libro e chi lo scrisse'' (Dante, ''Inferno'' 5).^(Zingarelli 2010)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}