Ancora sulla diacronia di però

The paper starts with a brief report on the recent research on the diachronic evolution of the connective però, followed by some considerations and extensive documentation to highlight the role played by Latin and Medieval Latin connectives ac/et/sed per hoc (also in the negative forms ac/et/sed per hoc non) on the development of però from the original causal meaning to the next adversative sense. For the early Italian, are there indicated some contexts in which the it. però translates Latin adversative connectives (sed, tamen, et cet.) and some remarks are devoted to the widespread of the nexus ma però. For XVI, XVII and XVIII centuries is underlined the importance of the so called "metalinguistic sources" (grammars and dictionaries) to check up the widespread of adversative però; and the circulation (also in the spoken language) of this connective is verified also in the works of some important writers. The widespread of the adversative però and, nevertheless, the correlative and concurrent survival of the causal connectives (e.g. epperò) are indicated for the XIX and XX centuries. Finally, some general remarks are drawn from the data shown in the paper.