attraverso Italian · revision 38188

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=late 13th century, Novellino|origins=la ad, la trānsversus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /at.traˈvɛr.so/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''attraverso''' (invariable); also written separately, ''a traverso''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ Old Italian also wrote [[m|roa-oit|atraverso]] and [[m|roa-oit|a traversso]].^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|it|a|traverso|t2=crosswise]], the phrase ⟨a traverso⟩ written as one word, with the doubled consonant that the preposition causes in pronunciation.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Wiktionary) [[traverso|alt=Traverso]] continues [[la|trānsversus|t=lying across, oblique]], formed [[m|la|trāns-|t=across]] and [[m|la|versus|t=turned]], and also used as the perfect passive participle of [[m|la|trānsvertō|t=to turn across]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(REW 1935) Wiktionary gives a Proto-Italic [[m|itc-pro|*trānsworssos]], and compares the Umbrian adverb [[m|xum|trahuorfi|t=crosswise]].^(Wiktionary) The other Romance languages made similar phrases from the same adjective: [[fr|à travers]], [[pt|através]] and [[es|a través de]].^(Wiktionary)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI dates ''a traverso'', “from one side to the other”, to the ''Novellino'' at the end of the 13th century, and Nocentini puts the first record in the 1270s.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) The TLIO's first example is in the Milanese poems of Bonvesin da la Riva, where it is an adverb meaning “crosswise”.^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old Italian the word was mostly an adverb: “crosswise”, “obliquely”, in heraldry “diagonally”, and figuratively “the wrong way”, as in ''andare a traverso''; as a preposition it meant “across, from one side to the other of”, also as ''attraverso a'' or ''attraverso di''.^(TLIO) Tommaseo records ''dare attraverso'', said of a ship, “to be wrecked”, and ''rispondere a traverso'', “to answer rudely”.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ Today the adverb is literary, and the word is chiefly a preposition: of movement through a place (''attraverso i campi''), of looking or passing through an opening, of time (''attraverso i secoli''), and of means (''attraverso lunghe indagini'').^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) The verb [[attraversare]] is as old as Dante; its figurative use for going through hard times was noted as modern by Rigutini in 1886.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1270s – First record, according to Nocentini.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Late 13th century – ''A traverso'' “from one side to the other” appears in the ''Novellino''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses the verb ''attraversare''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1886 – Rigutini notes the figurative ''attraversare un brutto periodo'' as a modern usage.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Preposition===

+ # [[m|en|through]], [[m|en|across]]: from one side to the other of a place or object: ''Il gatto è entrato attraverso la finestra.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # In the midst of, among; figuratively, through a series of events: ''è passato attraverso molte difficoltà''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # Over the course of a period of time: ''La ricetta si è tramandata attraverso le generazioni.''^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # By means of: ''L'ho saputo attraverso un amico.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Across, lying crosswise over: ''Un albero era caduto attraverso il sentiero.''^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # ''(literary)'' [[m|en|crosswise]], obliquely; more often written ''a traverso''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[attraversare]]

+ * [[attraversamento]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[traverso]]

+ * [[trasversale]]

+ * [[la|transversus]]

+ * [[fr|à travers]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The preposition can also take ''a'': ''attraverso al bosco''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020) The adverb is now usually written separately, and in ''andare di traverso'' (of food, to go down the wrong way) ''di traverso'' is used instead.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}