Last but not least

An introduction phrase to let the audience know that the last person mentioned is no less important than those introduced before him/her.



The first reference to it that I can find in print is from John Lyly's Euphues and His England, 1580: “I have heard oftentimes that in love there are three things for to be used: if time serve, violence, if wealth be great, gold, if necessity compel, sorcery. But of these three but one can stand me in stead - the last, but not the least'; which is able to work the minds of all women like wax;” The idea, if not the actual phrase, may have been inspired the Bible, where a similar thought is expressed - in Matthew 19:30 (John Wyclif's version), 1382, we find: “But manye schulen be, the firste the laste, and the laste the firste.”



Spanish: por último, si bien no menos importante

 German: zu guter Letzt