ne Italian · revision 37488

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 12th century, Ritmo laurenziano|origins=la inde}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ne/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ne''' (invariable, ''n’'' before a vowel)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|inde|t=from there, thence]], reduced to its middle consonant and final vowel.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) Sabatini derives it by loss of the first syllable from a Vulgar Latin [[m|la-vul|*inne]],^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) and Wikizionario names an older vernacular form ⟨enne⟩.^(Wikizionario) The Latin adverb also gave [[indi]].^(Nocentini 2010) It is panromance: [[fr|en]], [[oc|en]] (also ⟨ne⟩), [[ca|ne]], [[osp|ende]] and [[ro|înde]] continue it.^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935)

+

+ In Latin, [[m|la|inde]] was formed from the pronominal base ⟨i-⟩ of [[m|la|is|t=he, that]] and an element ⟨-de⟩ that is the same as the preposition [[m|la|dē|t=from]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) In the Romance languages, and above all in Italian, the adverb of motion from a place became an unstressed particle and entered the paradigm of the personal pronouns as the genitive and partitive of the third person.^(Nocentini 2010) Tommaseo illustrated the step with the Latin ⟨inde me poenitet⟩, the model of [[m|it|pentirsi|alt=me ne pento|t=I repent of it]].^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861|3, 453)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in the ''Ritmo laurenziano'' at the end of the 12th century, already as a pronoun “of him, of her, of them, of this, from this”.^(DELI 1999) Nocentini and GRADIT date the word to about 1224.^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) The adverb “from there” is recorded before 1321 in Dante.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Dante uses the partitive in ''Inferno'' 25, where Hercules strikes Cacus with his club: ''Gliene diè cento, e non sentì le diece'' (“He gave him a hundred of them, and he did not feel ten”).^(Treccani 2011) In the ''Decameron'' a woman begs the cook Chichibio ''che ne le desse una coscia'' (“to give her a leg of it”, of a roast crane).^(GDLI|11, 279)

+

+ Beside its partitive and genitive uses, the particle gives an intensive or reflexive colour to verbs of motion and rest: ''andarsene'', ''starsene'', ''venirsene''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011) It occurs in many idioms, such as ''farne di tutti i colori'' (“to get up to all sorts of things”) and ''chi più ne ha più ne metta'' (“and so on and so forth”).^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 12th century – The ''Ritmo laurenziano'' has the pronoun.^(DELI 1999)

+ * c. 1224 – GRADIT's and Nocentini's date for the word.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses the adverb “from there”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1834 – ''Ne'' is used as a preposition before titles beginning with an article.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # [[m|en|of]] him, of her, of them, about him or her: ''È un ottimo medico, tutti ne parlano bene.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # Of it, of this, of that, about it, with a [[m|en|partitive]] sense: ''Vuoi delle ciliegie? Ne ho comprate due chili.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # Of it, about it, referring to a whole statement: ''Non ne sono sicuro.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # From it, from this, of consequence or origin: ''ne deriva che…''^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # Pleonastic, repeating an expressed object: ''di pazienza ne ha poca''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # From there, from that place: ''Sono entrato in banca e ne sono uscito dopo un'ora.''^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # With verbs of motion and rest, giving an intensive sense: ''me ne torno a casa'', ''se ne stava in disparte''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[andarsene]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[indi]]

+ * [[ci]]

+ * [[vi]]

+ * [[la|inde]]

+ * [[fr|en]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In a group of unstressed pronouns ''ne'' always comes last, and the pronoun before it changes its vowel: ''me ne'', ''te ne'', ''gliene''.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(GDLI|11, 279)

+

+ Old and literary Italian also had a pronoun ''ne'' “us, to us”, from Latin ''nōs'', as in Saint Francis's ''sora nostra matre terra, / la quale ne sustenta e governa'' (“our sister mother earth, who sustains and governs us”);^(GRADIT 2003)^(GDLI|11, 280) Sabatini calls its origin disputed between ''nōs'' and ''inde'', and it survives in phrases such as ''Dio ne scampi''.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The particle ''ne'' before a title that begins with an article (''ne “Il Gattopardo”'') is a separate use, taken from ''nel'' and ''nella''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The negative conjunction “nor”, from Latin ''nec'', is written ''né''.^(DEI|2558)^(Prati 1951|693)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}