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Today it means

fortissimo

a musical direction to play very loudly

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Where does the word "fortissimo" come from? It comes from Italian fortissimo, and was adopted directly into English (1700s).

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Where does the word "fortissimo" come from? It comes from Italian fortissimo, and was adopted directly into English (1700s).

Fortissimo’s story begins in Italian: fortissimo meant “very loud.” The superlative of forte (loud), meaning very loud. It reached English by 1700s as fortissimo. Italian superlative of 'forte', strong. Today, fortissimo means a musical direction to play very loudly.

  1. Stage 1 · Italian · 1700s fortissimo "very loud", the superlative of forte (loud), meaning very loud.
  2. Stage 2 · English · 1700s fortissimo "played very loudly", Italian superlative of 'forte', strong.

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