allora

Italian

Alternative forms

• allor (apocopic)

Etymology

From Latin ad illam hōram (“at that hour”). Compare French alors, Occitan alara, Spanish alora, and Catalan aleshores.

Analysable as all' + ora.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /alˈlo.ra/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ora
• Hyphenation: al‧ló‧ra

Adverb

allora

1. then (at that time)
   • c. 1260s, Brunetto Latini, Il tesoretto [The Treasure], collected in Raccolta di rime antiche toscane: Volume primo, Palermo: Giuseppe Assenzio, published 1817, page 60, lines 1973–1977:

     Allora ’l cavalero
     che ’n sì alto mestero
     avea la mente misa
     se n’andò a distesa
     e gísene a Prodezza

     Then the knight, with his mind turned to such an elevated mystery, left in a hurry, and went to Prodezza

   • 1300s–1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto II”, in Inferno [Hell], lines 75–80; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate], 2^nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:

     Tacette allora, e poi comincia’ io:
     ‘O donna di virtù sola per cui
     l’umana spezie eccede ogni contento
     di quel ciel c’ha minor li cerchi sui,
     tanto m’aggrada il tuo comandamento,
     che l’ubidir, se già fosse, m’è tardi

     Then she became quiet, and I started: "O woman of [such] virtue, for which alone the human species surpasses everything else in that heaven that has lesser circles, your command is so pleasant to me that obeying it, [even] if it already was [underway], is late to me

2. (by extension) at the time, back then

   La bambina era allora chiamata da tutti Gattina per la sua dolcezza.

   At the time, the child was called "Kitty" by everybody because of her sweetness.

   • 1316–c. 1321, Dante Alighieri, “Canto XVI”, in Paradiso [Heaven], lines 22–27; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate], 2^nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:

     Ditemi dunque, cara mia primizia,
     quai fuor li vostri antichi e quai fuor li anni
     che si segnaro in vostra püerizia;
     ditemi de l’ovil di San Giovanni
     quanto era allora, e chi eran le genti
     tra esso degne più di alti scanni

     Tell me, my dear forefather, who were your ancestors, and which were the years signed during your childhood. Tell me about St. John's fold, how big it was back then, and who were the people in it [who were] worthy of high honors

3. so, well then

   Allora, che cosa c'è di nuovo? ― So, what's new?

Conjunction

allora

1. then, in that case

Derived terms

• allorché
• allorquando
• e allora

Related terms

• ora

Descendants

• → Slavomolisano: alora
• → Ido: lor

Further reading

• allora in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana