ve Italian · revision 38043

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=1348–1353, Boccaccio|origins=la ibī}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ve/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ve''' (unstressed; older literary ''vel'' “ve lo” and ''ven'' “ve ne”)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the form [[vi]] takes before the unstressed pronouns ⟨lo⟩, ⟨la⟩, ⟨li⟩, ⟨le⟩ and the particle ⟨ne⟩, both as the pronoun “you, to you” and as the adverb “there”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011) Nocentini explains the ⟨e⟩ as assimilation to the following particles, whose vowel is not ⟨i⟩.^(Nocentini 2010) Its origin is that of ⟨vi⟩: [[inh|la|ibī|t=there]], a derivative of [[m|la|is|t=that; he]], which also gave [[ivi]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The adverb of place took on the value of the second person plural and replaced the old [[roa-oit|vo]], from [[la|vōs|t=you]]: according to Rohlfs, ⟨vi scrivo⟩ first meant “I write there”.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DELI 1999) Parodi had proposed in 1889 that an accusative ⟨*ve⟩ from ⟨vōs⟩ and a dative ⟨vi⟩ from ⟨ibī⟩ merged, but DELI notes that this view, which Parodi himself found too abstract, has not been accepted.^(DELI 1999) Tommaseo compared it with [[me]], [[te]] and [[ce]] in the same position.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ GRADIT dates ''ve'' to Boccaccio, 1348–1353.^(GRADIT 2003) The GDLI quotes it earlier, in ''Purgatorio'' 17, where the terrace of sloth “ve ne martira” (torments you for it), and in the ''Decameron'', where the narrator means to show it to the listeners “con un'altra assai brieve”.^(GDLI|21, 687)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In 1525 Pietro Bembo noted that poets could say ''vi'' or ''ve'' as the rhyme required (''farvi'', ''darve''), and in old literary Italian ''ve'' could stand for ''vi'' at the end of a word without another particle, as in Petrarch's ''ricontarve''.^(DELI 1999)^(Treccani 2011) Older literary Italian also joined it to a following ''lo'' or ''ne'': Metastasio's ''vel perdoni'' and Alfieri's ''ven prega''.^(Zingarelli 2010) In several dialects ''ve'' is the ordinary form in every position.^(Treccani 2011)

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+ In modern Italian the combinations are fixed: ''ve lo'', ''ve ne'', and after an imperative, infinitive or gerund the forms written as one word (''portatevelo'', ''andatevene'').^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) As an adverb it is now formal, as in ''ve ne sono molti'' “there are many of them”.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Early 14th century – Dante uses ''ve ne'' in the ''Purgatorio''.^(GDLI|21, 687)

+ * 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses ''ve lo'' in the ''Decameron''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(GDLI|21, 687)

+ * 1525 – Bembo allows ''vi'' and ''ve'' alike in rhyme.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # To you, you (plural, or polite singular), before ''lo'', ''la'', ''li'', ''le'' and ''ne'': ''ve lo spiego dopo'', ''non ve ne pentirete''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+ # In reflexive verbs of the second person plural: ''ve ne siete andati presto''.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # ''(formal)'' [[m|en|there]], in that place, before the same pronouns: ''ve ne sono ancora due''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vi]]

+ * [[voi]]

+ * [[ce]]

+ * [[ivi]]

+ * [[la|ibi]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Old Italian also had an unrelated ''ve'' “where”, short for ''ove'', and an interjection ''ve’'' “look!”, from ''vedi''; both are found in Dante.^(DEI|3996) ''Ve'' is also a regional name of the letter ''v'', usually called ''vu''.^(GRADIT 2003)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}