altrui

Italian

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *alterūi, corresponding to Classical Latin alterī (dative singular of alter). The -ui ending, analogous to lui, colui, costui, cotestui, codestui, is ultimately due to the influence of Latin cui. Compare French autrui.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /alˈtruj/
• Rhymes: -uj
• Hyphenation: al‧trùi

Adjective

altrui (invariable)

1. (possessive) another person's, someone else's, other people's, of others

Pronoun

altrui (literary)

1. someone else, other people
   1. (chiefly dative; sometimes accusative) used without prepositions as indirect object or direct object.
      • 1300s–1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto I”, in Inferno [Hell], lines 16–18; 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:

        […] guardai in alto e vidi le sue spalle ¶ vestite già de’ raggi del pianeta ¶ che mena dritto altrui per ogne calle.

        Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders, ¶ ⁠Vested already with that planet's rays ¶ ⁠Which leadeth others right by every road.

   2. (archaic, prepositional) used with prepositions.

See also

• altri
• altro
• qualcos'altro
• qualcun altro

Trivia

• Unlike the other -ui pronouns, which also have -oro plural forms and -ei feminine singular forms (e.g. lui m sg, lei f sg, loro pl), altrui only exists in the -ui form.
• altrui's Romanian cognate, altui, the genitive/dative masculine/neuter singular of alt (“other”, Italian altro), regularly also has -ei and -or forms: altei f sg, altor pl.

Further reading

• “altrui”, in Sinonimi e Contrari (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2003
• altrui in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Anagrams

• urlati

Old French

Pronoun

altrui

1. alternative form of autrui