Reconstruction:Latin/addessum

This Latin entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Latin

Etymology

Perhaps a contraction of a phrase like *ad id ipsum [tempus] (literally “at this/that very time”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a(d)ˈdɛssu/

Adverb

*a(d)dessum (Proto-Italo-Western-Romance)

1. now/then(?)

Reconstruction notes

If the foregoing etymology is correct, one might have expected an original */ad(e)ˈdepsu/. The actual */a(d)ˈdɛssu/ implied by the descendants can be explained as the result of an early remodelling per ad pressum (“near” ≈ /apˈprɛssu/). The similarity of their reflexes is clear in any case. If the single /d/ of the Italian adesso is original, the construction may have started as *ad ipsum [tempus]. In that case the form with geminate */dd/, which is implied by the Western Romance outcomes (as well as the Italian variant addesso), may have developed by analogy with the /pp/ of the aforementioned ad pressum.

Descendants

• Dalmatian:
  • adias
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: adesso
• North Italian:
  • Istriot: dieso
  • Lombard: adés
  • Piedmontese: adèss ⇒ adsadèss
  • Romagnol: adès
  • Venetian: adeso
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: adés
  • Franco-Provençal: adés
  • Old French: adés
    • Franc-Comtois: aidés
  • Occitan: adès
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Navarro-Aragonese: adiesso

References

• AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 1533: “dove tu cuci adesso” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “ad id ipsum”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 24: Refonte A–Aorte, page 142