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Category: Italian (italiano)
Paper Cards
The word carta means paper in Italian, but letter in Spanish. It has other meanings, and this post finds out more.
Carta [ˈkar.ta] in Italian means such things as:
- paper or charter, e.g. un foglio di carta (a sheet of paper), carta igienica (toilet paper), carta da lettere (writing paper), carta da regalo (wrapping paper), carta lucida (tracing paper), carta da parati (wallpaper)
- papers / documents (in the plural – carte)
- card, e.g. carta di credito (credit card), carta d’indentità (identity card), dare le carte (to deal the cards), mettere le carte in tavola (to lay one’s cards on the table)
- menu / list, e.g. alla carta (à la carte), carta dei vini (wine list)
- map, e.g. carta geografica (map), carta automobilistica / stradale (road map), [source].
Carta [ˈkaɾta] in Spanish can mean:
- letter, e.g. carta de amor (love letter), carta adjunta (covering letter), carta de dimisión (letter of resignation), carta de presentación (letter of introduction)
- card(s), e.g. una baraja de cartas (a pack of cards), jugar a las cartas (to play cards)
- map / chart / plan, e.g. carta acotada (contour map), carta astral (star chart), carta meteorológica (weather chart/map), carta de navegación (flight plan)
- menu / list, e.g. a la carta (à la carte), carta de vinos (wine list) [source].
It has similar meanings in the other Romance languages, and comes from Latin charta (papyrus, paper, a piece of writing, letter, poem. charter) from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs – paper, book), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (to scratch) [source].
Words from the same roots include card, chart and charter in English, hartă (map), hârtie (paper), cartă (charter) and carte (book, card) in Romanian, Karte (card, map, chart, menu, ticket) in German, כַּרְטִיס (kartís – card, ticket) in Hebrew, ქარტეზი (karṭezi – certificate) in Georgian, and քարտ (kʻart – [playing] card) in Armenian [source].
Incidentally, another word for card in Spanish is tarjeta [taɾˈxeta], as in tarjeta de crédito (credit card). It is a diminutive of tarja [ˈtaɾxa] (tally [stick], plaque, plate, shield), which comes from French targe [taʁʒ] (targe [a small shield], buckler [a kind of shield]), from Middle French targe (round shield, targe), from Old French targe (buckler), from Frankish *targa (buckler), probably from Old Norse targa (small round shield), from Proto-Germanic *targǭ (edge), from Proto-Indo-European *derǵʰ- (fenced lot) or *dergʰ- (to catch, grasp) [source].
Related words in other languages include targe and target in English, Zarge (frame, border) in German, targhetta (label, tag, sticker, name plate) in Italian, and tarcza (shielf, target, clock face) in Polish [source].
Paved Floors
The Italian word pavimento looks like the English word pavement, but actually means floor. Let’s find out more.
Pavimento [pa.viˈmen.to] comes from Latin pavīmentum (a floor composed of small stones beaten down) from paviō (to beat, strike, ram, tread down), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (to strike, hit) [source].
Related words in Latin include pavīmentārius (floor-maker, who makes the tiled ground), pavīmentō (to pave) and pavīcula (a rammer) [source].
Related words in Italian include pavimentare (to floor, to pave) and pavimentazione (flooring, paving).
Words from the same Latin / PIE roots in other languages include paviment (flooring, pavement) in Catalan, pavement and to pave in English, palmant (pavement) in Welsh, pavement (paving, tiled floor) and paver (to cobble, pave [Canada]) in French, pământ (earth, ground, land) in Romanian, pavimento (road surface, paving) in Spanish, and pļaut (to mow, reap, shoot intensively) in Latvian [source].
The English word pavement can refer to:
- A paved surface; a hard covering on the ground.
- A paved path, for the use of pedestrians, located at the side of a road (mainly in the UK, Ireland and South Africa) – known as a sidewalk in North America, a banquette in Louisiana and Texas in the USA, and as a footpath in Australia, New Zealand and India
- A paving (paved part) of a road or other thoroughfare; the roadway or road surface. (mainly in North America)
- The paved part of an area other than a road or sidewalk, such as a cobblestone plaza, asphalt schoolyard or playground, or parking lot. (mainly in North America)
- The interior flooring of a church sanctuary, between the communion rail and the altar. [source].
Pavements / sidewalks have been around for a many thousands of years. There were pavements in Ancient Greece and Rome, for example, and the Romans called them sēmite (narrow way, footpath, path, pathway) [source], which comes from PIE *swé(d) (by oneself, away, without) + *mey- ((ex)change). Words from the same roots include senda (footpath) in Catalan, sente (footpath, track, trail) in French, and senda (footpath) in Spanish [source].
Are there other words for pavement / sidewalk in English?
Kaput Capes
What does the word kaput have to do with words like cape, chapter and cap? Let’s find out.
Kaput [kəˈpʊt] refers to something that is out of order or not working in English. It was borrowed from German kaputt (destroyed, broken, out of order, tired, exhausted), which comes from the French phrase être capot (not having won any trick in a card game). The origin of this phrase is uncertain, but capot (bonnet, hood) comes from Old French capote (hooded cloak) a diminutive of cape (cape), from Late Latin cappa (cape, cloak), possibly from Latin capitulāre (head tax, poll tax), from caput (head, top, summit, point, end), from Proto-Italic *kaput (head), from Proto-Indo-European *káput- (head), from *kap (head, bowl, cup) [source].
Cape, as in a sleeveless garment or part of a garment, hanging from the neck over the back, arms, and shoulders, comes from French cape (cape), from Old Occitan capa, from Late Latin cappa (cape, cloak), ultimately from PIE *káput- (head) – see above. Cape, as in a promontory or headland, comes from the same roots, via Middle English cape, Old French cap (cape, headland) and Latin caput (head, top, etc) [source].
Chapter (one of the main sections into which the text of a book is divided) comes from Middle English chapitre (chapter, passage, section of a book), from Old French chapitre (chapter), from Latin capitulum (a chapter of a book), a diminutive of caput (head, top, etc) [source].
Cap (a close-fitting hat, either brimless or peaked) comes from Middle English cappe (cap, hat), from Old English cæppe (hat, hood), from Proto-West Germanic *kappā (covering, hood, mantle), from Late Latin cappa (cape, cloak), from Latin caput (head, top, etc) [source].
So they all share a common root, the PIE *káput- (head) and arrived in modern English by various different routes.
Other words from the same root include cadet, capital and captain, chef, chief(tain) and head in English; hoofd (head, chief, boss) in Dutch; huvud (head) in Swedish; capo (head, boss, chief, leader) in Italian; cadeau (present, gift) in French, and capăt (termination, end, extremity) in Romanian [source].
Pans of Cream
The Italian word panna looks like it could mean pan or something similar, but in fact means cream.
A lot of Italian words are similar to words in Spanish, French or English, so you can often guess their meanings, but sometimes you come across words like this that don’t mean what you might expect them to mean.
Panna [ˈpan.na] comes from panno, which means cloth, as cream covers milk like a cloth, from Latin pānnus (cloth, rag, garment), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂n- (fabric). Or from Latin patina (a broad, shallow dish, a pan, a kind of cake, a crib, a manger), from Ancient Greek πατάνη (patánē – a kind of flat dish) [source].
Types of panna in Italian include:
- panna acida = sour(ed) cream
- panna da cucina = long-life cream used for cooking, double cream (UK)
- panna montata = whipped cream [source]
- panna cotta = panna cotta – a northern Italian dessert consisting of flavoured double cream set with gelatine, often served with fruit sauce or caramel syrup.). Lit. “cooked cream” [source]
Other words that come from the Latin pānnus include (window) pane in English, pan (piece, part, side, face, flap, patch) in French, pano (cloth, rag) in Portuguese, paño (cloth, wipe) in Spanish, and πανί (paní – cloth, fabric, sail) in Greek [source].
Other words from the Latin patina and/or Ancient Greek πατάνη include pan, patina (a coat, film, glaze) in English, patena (paten – the plate used to hold the host during the Eucharist) in Italian, panela (a solid piece of unrefined sugar; a Mexican cheese) in Spanish, pan (pan, cooking pot) in Dutch, Pfanne (frying pan) in German, panna (forehead, brow, pan, boiler) in Swedish, pande (forehead, pan) in Danish [source].
The word crema [ˈkrɛ.ma] is also used in Italian for cream, particularly to cleaning creams, lotions, the colour cream or cream flavour. For example, crema solare is sun cream, crema per il viso is face cream, crema detergente is cleansing cream, crema da barba is shaving cream and so on [source].
Crema comes from French crème (cream, cool), from Middle French chresme (cream), from Old French cresme (cream), from Latin crāma, from crāmum (cream), possibly from Gaulish *crama (?), from Proto-Celtic *krammen (?), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)krama- (?) [source].
Related words include:
- cremino = a chocolate truffle, a creamy cheese
- cremoso = creamy
- cremosamente = creamily
- cremosità = creaminess
- scremàre = to skim, to cream off
Buttery Donkeys
In my Italian lessons today, I learnt the word burro, which means butter. In Spanish, the same word means donkey, and I decided to find out more about these words.
Burro [ˈbur.ro] (butter) in Italian comes from Old French burre (butter), from Latin būtȳrum (butter), from Ancient Greek βούτῡρον [bǔː.tyː.ron] (butter), from βοῦς (boûs – cow) and τυρός (turós – cheese) [source].
Words from the same roots include butter in English, boter (butter) in Dutch, buerre (butter) in French, and βούτυρο [ˈvu.ti.ɾo] (butter) in Greek [source].
Related words and expressions in Italian include:
- burrificàre = to churn (cream, to make butter)
- burroso = buttery
- imburràre = to butter, grease with butter
- butirro = butter (for cooking)
- avere le mani di burro = to be butter-fingered [source]
Incidentally, in England a buttery can refer to a room for keeping food or beverages, a storeroom, or a room in a university where snacks are sold. While in Scotland, particularly in Aberdeen, a buttery is a savoury bread roll (see photo above), also known as a rowie, Aberdeen buttery, Aberdeen roll or rollie [source].
The Spanish word burro [ˈburo] means stupid, pig-headed, donkey, racehorse, also-ran, stubborn fool, sawhorse or swing [source]. The same word with similar meanings is also found in Catalan, Galician and Portuguese [source].
It comes from borrico (donkey, a stubborn, lazy, or stupid person), from Latin burricus (small horse), from burrus (red, reddish-brown), from Ancient Greek πυρρός (purrhós – flame colored, red-haired, red, blushing), from πῦρ (pûr – fire, lightning, fever), Proto-Hellenic *pāwər, from Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥ (fire, spelt [grain]) [source].
Words from the same roots include burlap (a very strong, coarse cloth), fire, purge, pyre, pyromancy (divination by fire) in English; πυρ (pyr – fire) in Greek; vuur (fire, heater, lighter) in Dutch, and fona (spark) in Portuguese [source].
Related words and expressions in Spanish include:
- burrero = horse-loving, race-going, mule/donley driver, coarse person, horse-lover
- burro de agua = big wave
- burro de carga = workhorse, dogsbody, beast of burden, drudge, pack mule
- burro de planchar = ironing board
- lomo de burro = speed bump
- salto de burro = leapfrog
- ponerse burro = to dig one’s heels in, be pigheaded
- caerse del burro = to admit defeat
- no ver tres en un burro = to be as blind as a bat
- trabajar como un burro = to work like a dog / horse [source]
Snub Nosed Simians
The other day I came across the word scimmia in my Italian lessons and wondered where it comes from. It’s rather unlike words for monkey in other Romance languages, such as mono in Spanish, macaco in Portuguese, maimuță in Romanian, and singe in French.
Scimmia [ˈʃim.mja] comes from Latin sīmia (ape, monkey, imitator), from sīmus (snub-nosed, flattened, splayed), from Ancient Greek σῑμός [siˈmos] (snub-nosed, flat nosed, steep, uphill, bent in, hollow, concave), the origins of which are uncertain [source].
Words from the same roots include simian (monkey-like, ape-like) in English, jimio [ˈxi.mjo] (ape) in Spanish, símio (ape, monkey, simian) in Portuguese, simi (simian) in Catalan, and singe (monkey, ape, foolish man) in French [source].
Related words and expressions in Italian include:
- scimmiesco = monkey-like, ape-like, simian
- scimmione = gorilla, ape, a clumsy and brutish person
- scimmiottare = to mock, make fun of, mimic, ape
- scimmiottamento = aping, mimicry
- scimmiotto = small or young money, friend, pal [source]
Incidentally, the origins of the English word monkey are uncertain. It may come from monk, or from Middle Low German Moneke, the name of the son of Martin the Ape in Reynard the Fox, a collection of medieval Dutch, English, French and German fables.
Or it may be related to the Late Middle French monne (monkey), from Italian monna (monkey), from Old Spanish mona (female monkey, from mamona, from maimón (a type of monkey with a prehensile tail), from Arabic مَيْمُون (maymūn – baboon, mandrill). Mono in Spanish comes from the same roots, as does maimuță in Romanian [source].
Mushrooms Hats
An interesting Spanish word I learnt recently is hongo [ˈonɡo], which means fungus, fungal growth, mushroom, toadstool, bowler hat and derby. As this appears very different to words for mushroom in other Romance languages, such as champignon in French, I wondered where it came from.
Hongo comes from Old Spanish fongo (mushroom), from Latin fungus (mushroom, fungus, fungal infection, candle-snuff, dolt, idiot), from sfungus, from Ancient Greek σπόγγος (spóngos – spongue, tonsil), the origins of which are unknown [source].
Words from the same roots include sfungjer (sponge) in Albanian, սպունգ [spunɡ] (sponge) in Armenian, sponge in English, spugna (sponge, drunkard) in Italian, and сунѓер [ˈsuɲɟɛr] (sponge) in Macedonian [source].
Related words and expressions in Spanish include:
- hongo venenoso = toadstool
- nube de hongo = mushroom cloud
- sombrero hongo = bowler hat [source]
- valer hongo = worthless – colloquial, vulgar – used in Chile [source]
Other words from mushroom in Spanish include:
- champiñón, which means (button) mushroom, fungus or mold, and was borrowed from French champignon (mushroom, fungus) [source]
- seta, which is used in Latin America to mean mushroom, and possibly comes from Ancient Greek σηπτά (septá – lost things), from σηπτός (septos) [source]
- callampa = mushroom or umbrella, and in the plural, callampas, shanty town. It’s used in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, and comes from Quechua qallampa or Aymara qallampa [source]
The French word champignon (mushroom, fungus, fungal infection, accelerator pedal), comes from Vulgar Latin *campāniolus (mushroom, lit. ‘grows in the field’), from Late Latin campāneus (of or pertaining to the fields), from Latin campānia (plain, countryside surrounding a city, cultivatable land), from campus (open flat level ground, a plain, a natural field), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂ém-po-s, from *kh₂emp- (to bend, curve, smooth) [source].
Incidentally, the English word mushroom comes from Middle English muscheron (mushroom, fungus, toadstool, a surname), from Anglo-Norman musherum, from Old French mousseron / moisseron (mushroom), possibly from Old French mosse/moise (moss) [source].
What’s that noise?
Did you know that the Italian word rumore doesn’t mean rumo(u)r, as you might expect, but rather noise, rumble, sound or clatter. Is it connected to the English word rumo(u)r? Let’s find out.
Rumore comes from Latin rūmōrem (vague noises, rumours), from rūmor (rumo(u)r), hearsay, gossip, rustle, murmur, a murmuring, the voice of the people), from Proto-Italic *roumōs, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rewH- (to shout, to roar) [source]. A related word in Latin is rūmusculus (idle gossip) [source].
Related words and expressions in Italian include:
- rumoreggiare = to rumble, clamo(u)r
- rumoreggiare = to rumble, clamo(u)r
- rumorista = noisemaker, foley artist
- rumoroso = noisy, loud
- rumorosamente = noisily
- antirumore = anti-noise, soundproof, noise-cancelling, noise-reducing
- un rumore sordo = a thud
- rumore bianco = white noise
- rumore di sottofondo = background noise
- la notizia ha fatto molto rumore = the news aroused great interest [source]
Words from the same Latin roots include rumoer (rumo(u)r, noise) in Dutch, rumo(u)r in English, rumeur (rumo(u)r) in French, rumur (rumo(u)r, continuous noise) in Portuguese, and rumor (rumo(u)r, murmur) in Spanish [source].
Words from the same PIE roots include řvát (to yell, roar) in Czech, реветь [rʲɪˈvʲetʲ] (to roar, bellow, howl, cry, weep) in Russian, and possibly ωρύομαι [oˈri.o.me] (to howl) in Greek, and rāvis (hoarseness) in Latvian [source].
So the English word rumo(u)r is related. It means “A statement or claim of questionable accuracy, from no known reliable source, usually spread by word of mouth.” or “Information or misinformation of the kind contained in such claims.”. It used to mean a report, new, information in general, fame, reputation, clamour, din or outcry [source].
It comes from Middle English rumour (rumour, gossip, hearsay; a report, tidings, news; loud shouting, noise, din; outcry of protest or disapproval; a disturbance, stir, tumult) [source], from Old French rimur (noise [produced by an army on the march]), from Latin rūmōrem [source].
In Old English, the word hlýd meant rumo(u)r or the noise made in discussing an event [source], and also noise, sound, tumult, disturbance or dissension. Another word for rumour was hlísa, which also meant sound, fame or glory [source].
Stanzas, Cameras and Salons
The Italian word stanza [ˈstan.tsa] means room or bedroom. I noticed it recently in my Italian lessons, and wondered where it came from. Today I realised that it’s related to the English word stanza (a part of a poem equivalent to a verse), and also has that meaning in Italian.
It comes from Vulgar Latin *stantia (standing, stopping-place), from Latin stantem (standing, staying, remaining), from stō (to stand, stay, remain), from Proto-Italic *staēō (to stand), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (to stand) [source].
The English word stanza [ˈstænzə], which was borrowed from Italian, can also refer to:
- An apartment or division in a building (architecture)
- A segment or portion of a broadcast devoted to a particular topic (broadcasting)
- A period or interval into which a sporting event is divided (sports)
It is also used in computing.
Words from the same roots include stance, stand, distant, estate, stable, stage, state, station, status and store in English, sawdl (heel) in Welsh, Staat (country, state) in German, and stam (tree trunk, stem, tribe, clan) in Dutch [source].
Other words for room in Italian include sala and camera.
Sala can also refer to a hall, living room or cinema (movie theatre), and was borrowed from French salle (hall, room), which ultimately comes from PIE *sel- (human settlement, village, dwelling), via Middle and Old French, Frankish and Proto-Germanic. The English words salon and saloon come from the same roots [source].
Camera is a room, chamber, bedroom, assembly, parliament or camera. It comes from Latin camera (chamber, room, vault), from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára – a vaulted chamber, vault), from Proto-Iranian *kamarā- (something curved), from *kamárati, ultimately from PIE *kh₂em- (to bend, curve) [source].
Words from the same roots include camera, cabaret and chamber in English, قَمَرَة (qamara – berth, bunk, cabin) in Arabic, καμάρα (kamára – arch, instep) in Greek, chambre (room, chamber, bedroom) and cabaret (pub, tavern, cabaret) in French, and câmara (chamber, council, camera) in Portuguese [source].
Camera, as in a device for taking photos and/or videos, is an abbreviation of camera obscura (A darkened room in which the image of an outside object is projected and focused onto a surface – see above) from New Latin camera obscūra (“dark chamber”) [source].
In English, camera can also mean a vaulted room or a judge’s private chamber, where cases may be heard in camera (in secret, in private).