tiramisù (Italian)

Where does "tiramisù" come from?

The Italian noun 'tiramisù' is formed through the univerbation of 'tira' plus 'mi' plus 'su', literally translating to 'pick me up'[1]. This combines 'tira su', meaning 'pick up' as the second person singular imperative of 'tirare su', with the unstressed first person singular object pronoun 'mi'[1]. The component 'su' comes from Latin 'sūsum'[5], while 'mi' derives from Latin 'mē' and possibly Latin 'mihi'[2].

Open questions

• The derivation of the Italian pronoun 'mi' includes a possible partial descent from Latin 'mihi' alongside its inheritance from Latin 'mē'. [2]

Full etymology tree

• tiramisù (Italian), 'tiramisu (dessert)'
  • compound tira (Italian), 'inflection of tirare:'
    • clipping tira su (Italian)
  • compound mi (Italian), 'clitic accusative of io. me'
    • inherited me (Latin), 'me, myself; accusative singular of ego'
      • inherited *mē (Proto-Italic)
        • inherited *h₁mé (Proto-Indo-European)
      • inherited *med (Proto-Italic)
        • inherited *h₁méd (Proto-Indo-European)
    • inherited mihi (Latin), 'dative of egō̆, indirect object form'
      • inherited *meɣei (Proto-Italic)
        • inherited *h₁mégʰ(e)y (Proto-Indo-European)
  • compound su (Italian), 'up, upstairs'
    • inherited susum (Latin), 'alternative form of sūrsum'

Ancestors

• mi (Italian)

Cognates and doublets

• tiramesù (Venetan)

Descendants and derived words

• tiramisu (English)
• tiramisu (Czech)
• tiramisu (Dutch)
• tiramisu (Finnish)
• tiramisu (French)
• Tiramisu (German)
• ティラミス (Japanese)
• 티라미수 (Korean)
• tiramisu (Polish)
• tiramisu (Polish)
• tiramisu (Portuguese)
• tiramisu (Romanian)

Sources

1. tiramisù (Italian) - Wiktionary
2. mi (Italian) - Wiktionary
3. me (Latin) - Wiktionary
4. mihi (Latin) - Wiktionary
5. su (Italian) - Wiktionary
6. tirare su (Italian) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

More words starting with T

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris