Ciao ( , ) is an informal salutation in the Italian language that is used for both "hello" and "goodbye".
Originally from the Venetian language, it has entered the vocabulary of English and of many other languages around the world. Its dual meaning of "hello" and "goodbye" makes it similar to S-L-M]] in Arabic, in Korean language, aloha in Hawaiian, () in Persian language, and in Vietnamese (the latter is a false cognate; the two words are not linguistically related despite sounding similar to each other).
Etymology
The word derives from the Venetian phrase s-ciào vostro or s-ciào su, literally meaning "(I am) your slave".
[ Ciao on Treccani] This greeting is analogous to the medieval
Latin servus which is still used colloquially in parts of
Central Europe/
Eastern Europe, or the antiquated English
valediction Your Obedient Servant.
The expression was not a literal statement of fact, but rather a perfunctory promise of good will among friends (along the lines of "at your service" in English). The Venetian word for "slave", s-ciào or s-ciàvo, derives from
Medieval Latin sclavus, a loanword from
Medieval Greek Σκλάβος, related to the ethnic "Slavic", since most of the slaves at that time came from the Balkans.
This greeting was eventually shortened to ciào, lost all its servile connotations and came to be used as an informal salutation by speakers of all classes. In modern Italian language, the word is used (in addition to the meaning of salutation) as an Interjection of resignation (also in a positive sense), as in Oh, va be', ciao! ("Oh, well, never mind!"). A tongue-twister says Se gh'hinn gh'hinn; se gh'hinn nò, s'ciào ("If there is money, there is; if there isn't, farewell! there's").
Spread
The Venetian
ciào was adopted by Northern Italian people during the late 19th and early 20th century. Later it became common elsewhere in Italy with the spelling
ciao. It has since spread to many countries in Europe, along with other items of the
Italian culture. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the greeting (spelled
chau and only meaning 'bye') spread to the
Americas—especially
Colombia,
Costa Rica,
Uruguay,
Paraguay,
Bolivia,
Peru,
Ecuador,
Chile,
Brazil (as
tchau),
Venezuela,
Panama and
Argentina – largely by way of Italian
. In today's Cuba,
ciao as a closing in letters has largely replaced the more traditional , with its religious implications, for many young people.
Ciao has also permeated
culture, becoming a popular greeting among descendants of
Italian people immigrants. It is also common in some varieties of
English.
Ciao has also been used in some parts of
Romania as a way to say 'goodbye'.
Serbo-Croatian-speaking countries use ciao (
ćao, ћао) as both a greeting and a parting interjection.
Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms (1929), which is set in northeast Italy during World War I, is credited with bringing the word into the English language.[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition (2000) ciao ]
Usage as greeting
In contemporary Italian usage,
ciao is interchangeable for both an informal hello and goodbye, much like
aloha in Hawaiian,
S-L-M in Arabic
, shalom in
Hebrew and
in Korean. In Italy,
ciao is mainly used in informal contexts, i.e. among family members, relatives, and friends, in other words, with those one would address with the familiar
tu (second person singular) as opposed to
Lei (courtesy form); in these contexts,
ciao can be the norm even as a morning or evening salutation, in lieu of
buon giorno or
buona sera, deemed too formal among friends, relatives, or the very familiar.
In other languages, ciao has come to have more specific meanings. The following list summarizes the spelling and uses of salutations derived from ciao in various languages and countries.
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Albanian: çao ("goodbye")
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Amharic language: ቻው, chaw ("goodbye")
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Bulgarian: чао, chao ("goodbye")
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Catalan language: ciao, txao ("goodbye")
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Czech language: ciao, čau, also čauky, čauves, čauky mňauky ("hello" or "goodbye") and čau čau (goodbye)
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Dutch language: ciao ("goodbye")
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English language: ciao ("goodbye")
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Estonian: "tšau", also "tšauki" - sometimes pronounced with "s" ("hello" or "goodbye")
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French language: ciao, tchao, tchô (mostly used to say "goodbye"). "Tchao" is slang in French. In 1983, this word was used in the title of the popular movie Tchao, pantin ( So Long, Stooge). The variant tchô was popularised by the comic book Titeuf Tchô, monde cruel.
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German language: ciao, tschau ("goodbye", in Switzerland also "hello")
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Greek language: τσάο, tsao ("goodbye")
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Hebrew language: צ'או chao ("goodbye")
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Hungarian: csáó or the more informal csá or cső ("hello" or "goodbye")
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Italian language: ciao ("hello", "hi" or "goodbye") also "ciao ciao" (bye bye).
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Japanese: チャオ, chao ("hello" or "hi") also チャオチャオ chao chao (bye bye).
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Latvian language: čau ("hello" or "goodbye")
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Lithuanian: čiau ("goodbye", rarely "hello")
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Macedonian: чао, čao ("goodbye")
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Malay language: چاو دولو, cau dulu ("goodbye"); used informally in Malaysia by the leaving party. The word "cau" can be used informally as a verb which means "leave"
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Maltese language: ċaw ("goodbye"); also ċaw ċaw ("bye bye")
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Neapolitan: cià ("hello", "hi" or "goodbye")
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Polish language: ciao (rare)
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Portuguese: tchau ("goodbye"), tchau tchau ("bye bye"), or tchauzinho ("little bye"); in Portugal xau is also used, without the "t" sound, especially in written informal language such as SMS or web chats
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Romanian: ciao ("hello" or "goodbye"); it is often written as ceau although this form is not officially in the Romanian vocabulary
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Russian language: чау, чао, chao; ("goodbye"); also jokingly - чао-какао, chao-kakao (from чай — "tea" and какао — "cocoa")
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Serbo-Croatian: ćao / ћао (informal "hi" or "bye")
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Sicilian: ciau ("hello", "hi")
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Slovak language: čau (variations: čauko, čaves, čauky, čaf); mostly as "goodbye", but stands in for "hello" primarily in informal written communication (text messages, emails) and phone calls because it is more character-efficient/shorter and more hip than the Slovak "ahoj"
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Slovene language: ciao, čau or čaw ("hello" or "goodbye"); also čaw čaw ("bye bye")
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Somali language: ciao ("goodbye")
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Spanish language: in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay the word chau is the most common expression for "goodbye". In Chile, chao is the standard farewell. In Spain, where "adios" (with a religious etymology as "goodbye", the same as Italian "addio" and French "adieu", meaning "to God" in English) is the common expression, people can use chao as an original way of saying goodbye.
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Swiss-German: ciao/Tschau ("hello" or "goodbye")
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Tigrinya: ቻው, chaw ("goodbye")
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Turkish language: çav ("goodbye")
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Venetian: ciào ("hello" or "goodbye")
In some languages, such as Latvian, the vernacular version of
ciao has become the most common form of informal salutation.
The Vietnamese ("hello" or "goodbye") is phonetically similar but not etymologically related.
Variations
The dominant use in Latin America uses the term solely as farewell rather than as a greeting.
The greeting has several variations and minor uses. In Italian and Portuguese, for example, a doubled ciao ciao/tchau tchau means specifically "goodbye", whilst the tripled or quadrupled word (but said with short breaks between each one) means "Bye, I'm in a hurry!"
Pronounced with a long , it means "Hello, I'm so glad to meet you!" (be it sincere or sarcastic) in Italian, and a sarcastic or humorous use of "bye!" (cf. American English) in Portuguese. It can be used in Italian to express sarcasm at another person's point of view about one topic, especially when that opinion sounds outdated, in which case the meaning is comparable to the English "Yeah, right!"
In all these cases, however, the special meaning is conferred more by the vocal inflection than by the modified use.
See also
Notes
