cui Italian · revision 37546

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 12th or early 13th century, Ritmo laurenziano|origins=la quī}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈku.i/^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''cui''' (invariable)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|cui|t=to whom, to which]], the dative of the relative pronoun [[la|quī|t=who, which]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) Devoto gives the older Latin form [[m|la|quoi]].^(Devoto 1968|126) In Italian the dative spread to all the cases other than the nominative and accusative, and it serves as the oblique form of [[che]].^(Devoto 1968|126)^(Nocentini 2010) [[scn|cu]], also found in Calabrian, has become an interrogative “who”, even in the nominative.^(DEI|1186)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is the ''Ritmo laurenziano'', from the end of the 12th or the beginning of the 13th century, as a relative used with prepositions.^(DELI 1999) GRADIT, Nocentini and Zingarelli date it before 1250.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Zingarelli 2010)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old Italian used ''cui'' also without a preposition, for the dative and the genitive, and as a direct object: Dante writes “O tu, cui colpa non condanna” and “E 'l ciel cui tanti lumi fanno bello”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) It could also be an interrogative, as in Minos's warning “guarda com'entri e di cui tu ti fide” (look how you enter and whom you trust, ''Inferno'' 5).^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010) Petrarch's “Voi cui fortuna ha posto in mano il freno” shows the dative without ''a'', which remains literary.^(Treccani 2011)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

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+ Modern Italian keeps ''cui'' after prepositions, and between article and noun with the sense “whose”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The conjunction ''per cui'' “so, therefore” is colloquial, and Zingarelli advises against it.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 12th or early 13th century – First record, in the ''Ritmo laurenziano''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1250 – GRADIT's date.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1306–1321 – Dante uses ''cui'' as an object and as an interrogative.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # [[m|en|whom]], [[m|en|which]], after a preposition, in place of ''il quale'', ''la quale'' and their plurals: ''la città in cui sono nato'', ''l'amica con cui parlavo''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(literary)'' To whom, without ''a'': ''il maestro cui devo tutto''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # [[m|en|whose]], between the article and the noun: ''uno scrittore i cui romanzi ho letto tutti''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''per cui'': so, therefore: ''era tardi, per cui sono tornato a casa''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(literary)'' As a direct object, “whom”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(archaic)'' As an interrogative, “whom”, in place of ''chi''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[che]]

+ * [[chi]]

+ * [[quale]]

+ * [[la|quī]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Cui'' does not change for gender or number.^(GDLI)^(Gabrielli 2020) The phrases ''nella misura in cui'' (to the extent that) and ''ragion per cui'' (which is why) are common.^(GRADIT 2003)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}