Quanto Dante è ancora vivo
How much of Dante’s Italian is still spoken
Of the 9,917 words in the 10 fully annotated cantos of the Divine Comedy, 72% are everyday Italian today, 14% are literary and 14% are archaic, by the verdict on every word in Terzina’s glossary.
Vivo · still said
72%
of running words · 58% of distinct forms
Letterario · bookish
14%
of running words · 20% of distinct forms
Arcaico · gone
14%
of running words · 22% of distinct forms
Come contiamo
How the count is made
Every word of a fully annotated canto has a gloss written by hand, and every gloss gives a verdict: vivo, an Italian would say it today; letterario, understood, but it sounds like a book; arcaico, nobody says it, and the gloss gives the word to use instead. The verdict is on the form as Dante wrote it, so sanza is archaic even though senza is alive.
Running words are counted as a reader meets them, so la counts every time it appears; that is the share of a page that reads as today’s Italian. Distinct forms are counted once each, whatever their frequency; that is the share of the vocabulary. The count covers 10 cantos and 462 tercets, and is remade whenever a canto is added. Text after the Petrocchi edition, via Italian Wikisource.
Canto per canto
Canto by canto, as a share of running words
| Canto | Words | Vivo | Letterario | Arcaico |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inferno I | 993 | 71% | 15% | 14% |
| Inferno III | 956 | 68% | 16% | 16% |
| Inferno V | 968 | 74% | 13% | 13% |
| Inferno XXVI | 1,047 | 70% | 14% | 16% |
| Inferno XXXIV | 1,039 | 72% | 13% | 15% |
| Purgatorio I | 978 | 72% | 15% | 13% |
| Purgatorio II | 923 | 74% | 14% | 12% |
| Purgatorio XXX | 1,007 | 73% | 13% | 14% |
| Paradiso I | 988 | 76% | 12% | 12% |
| Paradiso XXXIII | 1,018 | 74% | 12% | 14% |
| All 10 cantos | 9,917 | 72% | 14% | 14% |
Le parole che non si dicono più
The archaic forms met most often, and the word to say today
| Dante | Today | English | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| li | gli / i | the | 78 |
| de | di / del… | of | 66 |
| elli | lui / egli | he | 22 |
| ogne | ogni | every, all | 18 |
| loco | luogo | place | 16 |
| avea | aveva | had | 15 |
| sanza | senza | without | 15 |
| fé | fece | made | 11 |
| parea | pareva / sembrava | seemed | 9 |
| foco | fuoco | fire | 9 |
| quivi | lì / là | there, in that place | 9 |
| poscia | dopo / poi | afterwards; poscia che: after | 9 |
Le parole da libro
The literary forms met most often, and the everyday word
| Dante | Today | English | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| sì | così | so, thus; yes | 79 |
| son | sono | I am; they are | 22 |
| ché | perché | because, for | 20 |
| lor | loro | them, their | 20 |
| fuor | fuori | out | 18 |
| questi | questo / lui | this one, he: the lion | 18 |
| ancor | ancora | still, yet | 15 |
| tal | tale / così | such, like that | 15 |
| lume | luce | light, lamp | 14 |
| ciel | cieli | the heavens | 14 |
| sol | sole | sun | 13 |
| colui | quello | he, the one | 12 |
Domande
Questions
- Is Dante’s Italian the same as modern Italian?
- Mostly the same words, used differently. In the annotated cantos 72% of the running words are everyday Italian today; 14% are understood but sound bookish; 14% are no longer said. The distance is more in word order, elisions and references than in vocabulary.
- Can an Italian today read Dante without notes?
- Italians read the Commedia at school with notes, and most need them: the words are largely familiar, but the syntax is compressed, the spelling is older (sanza, sovra, elli) and the references are medieval. Three words in four being alive is what makes the poem learnable; the notes do the rest.
- Which canto has the most living Italian?
- Paradiso I, with 76% of its words still said today; Inferno III has the largest share of archaic forms, 16%. The differences between cantos are small: the poem’s vocabulary is alive throughout.
- Can I learn modern Italian by reading Dante?
- Yes, if every word tells you whether to say it. That is what Terzina does: each word of the poem is marked vivo, letterario or arcaico, with today’s word beside the archaic ones, and each lesson has you produce today’s Italian, not only recognise Dante’s. Inferno I is a complete free lesson; the whole poem as lessons is $8, once.
- How is the count made?
- Every word of a fully annotated canto has a hand-written gloss with one of three verdicts. Running words are counted as met, so an article counts every time it appears; distinct forms are counted once each (2,773 forms, 58% alive). The count is remade whenever a canto is added.