uopo
Italian edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Latin opus, cognate with Old Spanish uebos, Romanian op.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
uopo m (plural (literary, very rare) uopi)
- (archaic or literary, rare) need
- Synonyms: bisogno, necessità, occorrenza
- ultimo uopo ― crucial moment; decisive moment (literally, “last need”)
- early-mid 1310s–mid 1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto XVII”, in Purgatorio [Purgatory][1], lines 58–60; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate][2], 2nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:
- Sì fa con noi, come l’uom si fa sego;
ché quale aspetta prego e l’uopo vede,
malignamente già si mette al nego.- He acts towards us as a man acts towards himself, for he who awaits for a request and sees the need is already malignantly preparing for refusal.
- 1763 March, Giuseppe Parini, Il mattino [Morning]; collected in Opere dell'abate Giuseppe Parini[3], volume 1, Venice: Giacomo Storti, 1803, page 58:
- […] esso a mill'uopi
Opportuno si vanta […]- It is praised as suitable for a thousand needs
- 1782, Vittorio Alfieri, “Scena V [Scene 5]”, Atto quinto [Fifth act], in Saul[4]; republished in Tragedie di Vittorio Alfieri da Asti[5], volume 2, Florence: Felice Le Monnier, 1855, page 53:
- Eccoti solo, o re; non un ti resta
Dei tanti amici, o servi tuoi. – Sei paga,
D’inesorabil Dio terribil ira? –
Ma, tu mi resti, o brando: all’ultim’uopo,
Fido ministro, or vieni. […]- Here you are, o king, alone: not one of your many friends or servants is left. Are you content, terrible wrath of an inexorable God? But I have you, sword, left in the crucial moment: now come, you faithful servant.
- (literally, “Here you are alone, o king; not one is left to you of the many friends, or servants of yours. Are you satisfied, o terrible wrath of an inexorable God? But you are left to me, o sword, in the last need: faithful servant, now come.”)
Derived terms edit
Further reading edit
- uopo in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana