antico Italian · revision 38871

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=early 13th century, Gerardo Patecchio|origins=la ante}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /anˈti.ko/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''antico''' (feminine antica, masculine plural antichi, feminine plural antiche, superlative antichissimo)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms include [[roa-oit|antigo]] and [[m|roa-oit|antiquo]], a Latinizing spelling.^(TLIO)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ Northern dialects have forms such as [[vec|antigo]] and [[lmo|antìgh]].^(LEI|2, 1629)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|antīquus|t=old, former, ancient]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The LEI notes that the Latin adjective was already written with ⟨c⟩, and all the Romance languages except Romanian continue it; except for Spanish they also used the masculine form for the feminine.^(LEI|2, 1629)^(DEI|222) The same word is [[fro|anti]], [[pro|antic]], [[ca|antic]], [[es|antiguo]], [[pt|antigo]], [[sc|antigu]] and [[rm|antic]];^(LEI|2, 1629)^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) [[fr|antique]] is a learned form.^(Nocentini 2010) The humanists' [[antiquo]] was taken again from Latin.^(LEI|2, 1629)

+

+ The Latin word is formed from [[m|la|ante|t=before, in front of]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) Devoto explains the ending by the influence of [[m|la|posticus|t=behind]] and [[m|la|propinquus|t=near]].^(Devoto 1968) Wiktionary reconstructs [[ine-pro|*h₂énti-h₃kʷ-o-s|t=facing the front]], from the roots of the preposition and of [[m|la|oculus|t=eye]], and compares [[sa|अन्तिक|tr=antiká|t=near]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in the ''Splanamento'' of Gerardo Patecchio of Cremona, from the first decades of the 13th century; the LEI's is the ''Fiori di filosafi'' of about 1274, and DELI's Dante's ''Vita nuova'' (1293–1294).^(TLIO)^(LEI|2, 1629)^(DELI 1999) The sense was “belonging to or going back to the past, often the remote past”.^(TLIO)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old Italian also used ''antico'' of people for “aged, old”, a sense now literary: in the ''Commedia'' an old man is ''bianco per antico pelo'', “white with old hair”.^(TLIO)^(Treccani 2011) Of an illness it meant “chronic”;^(TLIO) ''antico sangue'' was ancient, noble blood;^(TLIO) ''il serpente antico'' was Satan and ''la legge antica'' the Old Testament.^(TLIO) Old adverbial phrases were ''ab antico'' and ''per antico'', “from the beginning”, and the LEI treats them as Latin turns of phrase;^(TLIO)^(LEI|2, 1629)^(Treccani 2011) ''all'antica'', “in the old way”, is still used.^(TLIO)^(LEI|2, 1629)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ The plural ''gli antichi'' named the people of antiquity as against the moderns, as in Dante's ''Convivio''.^(GDLI) In modern usage ''storia antica'' is history up to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and ''antico'' is also said of furniture and works of art at least a hundred years old.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) The derivative ''anticaglia'', “old-fashioned object”, recorded before 1348, spread to [[fr|antiquaille]] and [[es|antigualla]].^(DELI 1999)^(LEI|2, 1629) DIFIT lists the English adjective [[m|en|antic]] (1548, “grotesque”) as a possible borrowing of the Italian word.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Early 13th century – Gerardo Patecchio uses ''antico''.^(TLIO)

+ * About 1274 – The ''Fiori di filosafi'' use the word.^(LEI|2, 1629)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1293–1294 – Dante uses it in the ''Vita nuova''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1348 – ''Anticaglia'' is recorded in Giovanni Villani.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1548 – English ''antic'' is recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1955 – A learned ''antico'' “front, anterior” is recorded in architecture.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|ancient]], very old, going back to a remote time: ''Il paese conserva un castello normanno molto antico.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(history)'' Of [[m|en|antiquity]], the Mediterranean world before the fall of the Western Roman Empire: ''storia antica''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # Of furniture or works of art, [[m|en|antique]], made at least a hundred years ago: ''In salotto c'è un tavolo antico di noce.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Of the past; felt or experienced long ago: ''Con la pensione è tornato al suo antico amore per la pittura.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # Long-standing, of old date: ''Fra le due famiglie c'è un'amicizia antica.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # Typical of the past, often with approval: ''valori antichi''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(literary)'' Of a person, aged, old.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(in the plural)'' The [[m|en|ancients]], the people of antiquity, ''(literary)'' ancestors.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(singular)'' What belongs to or is typical of antiquity or the past; the antique style.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[anticaglia]]

+ * [[anticamente]]

+ * [[anticheggiare]]

+ * [[antichista]]

+ * [[anticare]]

+ * [[anticato]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[antichità]]

+ * [[antiquario]]

+ * [[antiquato]]

+ * [[la|antiquus]]

+ * [[fr|antique]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''All'antica'' means “in the old way”, of habits and of old-fashioned people.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020) A rare learned ''antico'', from Latin ''anticus'' “in front”, means “front, anterior” in architecture and archaeology (GRADIT dates it to 1955) and in anatomy, where Tommaseo stresses it ''àntico'' as opposed to ''pòstico''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(Wiktionary) The LEI suggests that the stress was drawn back by association with ''ante''.^(LEI|2, 1608)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}