ieri Italian · revision 37725

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1300–1313, Dante}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈjɛ.ri/^(Wiktionary)

+ * Regional: /ˈje.ri/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ieri''' (invariable); as a noun ''m'' (invariable). Older and poetic forms are ''ier'' and ''jeri''.^(Wiktionary)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|heri|t=yesterday]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The word is found throughout the Romance languages: [[fr|hier]], [[oc|er]], [[ca|ahir]], [[es|ayer]], [[sc|eris]] and [[ro|ieri]];^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) Old Portuguese had [[m|pt|eire]], which modern Portuguese has replaced with [[m|pt|ontem]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) Many Italian dialects, like Spanish, added the preposition ⟨ad⟩: northern ⟨aier⟩, southern ⟨aieri⟩, [[egl|ayer]] in Bologna and [[nap|ayere]].^(DEI|1926)^(REW 1935)

+

+ The Latin word goes back to [[itc-pro|*xesi]].^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan compares [[grc|χθές|tr=khthés]], [[sa|ह्यस्|tr=hyás]] and [[goh|gesteron]], and sets up [[ine-pro|*ǵʰ-di-es|t=yesterday]], perhaps “on that day”, with the stem of the word for day;^(de Vaan 2008)^(Nocentini 2010) Nocentini gives the older reconstruction [[m|ine-pro|*ghesi]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Nocentini 2010) Latin ⟨heri⟩ is a locative, and its adjective [[m|la|hesternus|t=of yesterday]] matches the Germanic forms.^(DEI|1926)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is in Dante's ''Commedia'', 1300–1313, always in the shortened form ''ier''.^(DELI 1999) GDLI quotes ''Inferno'' XXI: “Ier, più oltre cinq'ore che quest'otta, mille dugento con sessanta sei anni compiè che qui la via fu rotta” (yesterday, five hours later than this hour, it was 1266 years since the road here was broken).^(GDLI|7, 232)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As a noun, “the day before”, the word appears in Petrarch in 1374, and in the wider sense of “the past, former times” in Boccaccio, before 1375.^(DELI 1999) Compounds such as ''iersera'' “last night”, ''iermattina'' and ''ierlaltro'' “the day before yesterday” are formed with the word.^(DEI|1926)^(REW 1935) The phrase ''nato ieri'', of a naive person, gained ground from the 1951 film ''Nata ieri'', in which Judy Holliday played a pretty but foolish young woman.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1300–1313 – Dante uses ''ier'' in the ''Commedia''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1374 – Petrarch uses ''ieri'' as a noun.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses it for times past.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1951 – the film ''Nata ieri'' spreads the phrase ''nato ieri''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # [[m|en|yesterday]], on the day before today: ''Ieri ha nevicato tutto il giorno.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # In the recent past: ''Ieri era un ragazzo, oggi è un uomo.''^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The day before today (often after a preposition): ''la partita di ieri'', ''da ieri''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # (by extension) The recent past: ''la musica di ieri''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[iersera]]

+ * [[altrieri]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[oggi]]

+ * [[domani]]

+ * [[la|heri]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Fixed expressions include ''l'altro ieri'' or ''ieri l'altro'' “the day before yesterday”, ''ieri sera'', ''ieri mattina'', ''ieri a otto'' “a week ago yesterday” and ''nato ieri'' “naive”: ''non sono mica nato ieri''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) As a noun it takes the article ''lo'', usually elided: ''l'ieri''.^(Zingarelli 2010) The traditional pronunciation has an open ''e'', the northern one a close ''e''.^(DiPI)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}