Five easy Italian words with a curious history
Have you ever wondered how Italy got its name? Or why we say 'Lei' when we talk to our bosses, or how the word 'cappuccino' came to be?
The Italian language has been shaped by centuries of cultural and historical developments, so that every word has a story behind it.
Italian speakers and learners will be familiar with each of the following easy words, and probably use them on a regular basis.
But do you know where they come from?
Italia | Italy
Photo: Depositphotos
Where does Italy get its name from? The most likely theory is that it comes from the word 'víteliú', which meant 'calf' in the extinct Oscan language, which was spoken in southern Italy. From this, the Latin word 'vitulus' referring to a young calf, evolved - and so did 'Italia', which likely meant something along the lines of 'land of cattle'.
This referred at first to southern Italy, which did indeed have plenty of cattle, and had the bull as its symbol in contrast to Rome's symbol of the wolf. Slowly over time, 'Italia' came to refer to the peninsula as a whole.
Ragazzo | Boy
Photo: Depositphotos
'Raggazzo' likely came into the Italian language from Arabic, and derives from the Arabic word 'raqqa sò', which meant 'messenger boy' and is still used in some regions of northern Africa to mean 'postman'.
Lots of Arabic words came to Italy in the 14th century, most of them related to trade (many food items, for example 'zucchero' and 'caffe' have Arabic origins). From there, it transformed into Latin 'ragazium' and then Italian 'ragazzo', and the meaning got diluted so that now it simply means 'boy'.
Fortunatamente | Fortunately
Photo: Depositphotos
...Or in fact, any adverb ending in ‘mente’. You probably know that ‘mente’ also exists as an independent word in Italian, meaning ‘mind’, and that’s where adverbs of this kind come from.
In older forms of Italian, adverbs didn’t exist at all, so instead writers had to use lengthier constructions - this is still done today in phrases like ‘in modo semplice’ as an alternative to ‘semplicemente’.
For example, when talking about people, writers used phrases like ‘di mente lieta’ (of a happy mind) to get their point across and as centuries went by, this usage was extended even to instances when the subject did not have a mind.
As ‘mente’ lost its literal meaning and came to work just as a grammatical component (signifying that a word was an adverb), it slowly moved to the end of the phrase and became attached to the adjective rather than being an independent word.
Lei | You (formal)
Photo: Depositphotos
The ancient Romans had only one word for ‘you’ - ‘tu’ - and this form is becoming increasingly common in modern Italy, but the Italian language retains a distinction between a formal and informal form of address.
This was introduced in the Middle Ages, when the plural ‘voi’ was used with a superior - the idea was that it showed respect by acknowledging that they were equal to several single ‘tu’ people.
'Voi' is still used in some southern dialects, but in the northern dialects it was replaced by ‘Lei’ at courts. This formal ‘Lei’ shouldn’t be thought of as ‘she’ (which is 'lei' with a small 'l') - the feminine form is used because it stems from the term ‘Sua eccellenza’ (Your Excellency).
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'Voi' and ‘Lei’ were in competition for a while, before dictator Benito Mussolini rose to power. As part of his reforms to the Italian language, he ordered the substitution of ‘Lei’ with ‘voi’; one of his reasons for this was the mistaken belief that ‘Lei’ stemmed from Spanish influence.
After the Second World War, Italians were keen to shake off Mussolini’s influence, and turned back to 'Lei’ when speaking to people in authority positions. Note: The use of ‘voi’ as a formal ‘you’ in standard Italian (not the southern dialects mentioned above) still carries fascist associations and should generally be avoided.
Cappuccino
Photo: Depositphotos
When cappucinos were first invented, they were very different from the ones you'll find at your local bar today, and were made from coffee, sugar, egg yolks and cream.
The resulting light brown shade reminded people of the hooded robes traditionally worn by Capuchin monks, so they christened the new kind of coffee 'cappuccino' or 'little Capuchin'.
The Capuchin monks themselves got their names from their hoods (the Italian word for hood, 'cappuccio', comes from the Latin 'caputium') which were long, pointed and brown, inspired by Francis of Assisi's clothes of poverty.
But when it comes to the drink, an even bigger shock is that the cappuccino didn’t even originate in Italy - there is no evidence for it existing on the peninsular until the 20th century (when the invention of fridges allowed them to swap the egg and cream for milk), however the early forms of the beverage were attested in Austria as a ‘kapuziner’ two hundred years earlier.
The traditional version of the 'kapuziner' can still be found in Austrian cafes, with just a drop of cream, while the Austrians have re-adopted the Italian term cappuccino for the milkier version.
This article was first published in 2016.
READ ALSO:
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The Italian language has been shaped by centuries of cultural and historical developments, so that every word has a story behind it.
Italian speakers and learners will be familiar with each of the following easy words, and probably use them on a regular basis.
But do you know where they come from?
Italia | Italy
Photo: Depositphotos
Where does Italy get its name from? The most likely theory is that it comes from the word 'víteliú', which meant 'calf' in the extinct Oscan language, which was spoken in southern Italy. From this, the Latin word 'vitulus' referring to a young calf, evolved - and so did 'Italia', which likely meant something along the lines of 'land of cattle'.
This referred at first to southern Italy, which did indeed have plenty of cattle, and had the bull as its symbol in contrast to Rome's symbol of the wolf. Slowly over time, 'Italia' came to refer to the peninsula as a whole.
Ragazzo | Boy
Photo: Depositphotos
'Raggazzo' likely came into the Italian language from Arabic, and derives from the Arabic word 'raqqa sò', which meant 'messenger boy' and is still used in some regions of northern Africa to mean 'postman'.
Lots of Arabic words came to Italy in the 14th century, most of them related to trade (many food items, for example 'zucchero' and 'caffe' have Arabic origins). From there, it transformed into Latin 'ragazium' and then Italian 'ragazzo', and the meaning got diluted so that now it simply means 'boy'.
Fortunatamente | Fortunately
Photo: Depositphotos
...Or in fact, any adverb ending in ‘mente’. You probably know that ‘mente’ also exists as an independent word in Italian, meaning ‘mind’, and that’s where adverbs of this kind come from.
In older forms of Italian, adverbs didn’t exist at all, so instead writers had to use lengthier constructions - this is still done today in phrases like ‘in modo semplice’ as an alternative to ‘semplicemente’.
For example, when talking about people, writers used phrases like ‘di mente lieta’ (of a happy mind) to get their point across and as centuries went by, this usage was extended even to instances when the subject did not have a mind.
As ‘mente’ lost its literal meaning and came to work just as a grammatical component (signifying that a word was an adverb), it slowly moved to the end of the phrase and became attached to the adjective rather than being an independent word.
Lei | You (formal)
Photo: Depositphotos
The ancient Romans had only one word for ‘you’ - ‘tu’ - and this form is becoming increasingly common in modern Italy, but the Italian language retains a distinction between a formal and informal form of address.
This was introduced in the Middle Ages, when the plural ‘voi’ was used with a superior - the idea was that it showed respect by acknowledging that they were equal to several single ‘tu’ people.
'Voi' is still used in some southern dialects, but in the northern dialects it was replaced by ‘Lei’ at courts. This formal ‘Lei’ shouldn’t be thought of as ‘she’ (which is 'lei' with a small 'l') - the feminine form is used because it stems from the term ‘Sua eccellenza’ (Your Excellency).
READ ALSO:
'Voi' and ‘Lei’ were in competition for a while, before dictator Benito Mussolini rose to power. As part of his reforms to the Italian language, he ordered the substitution of ‘Lei’ with ‘voi’; one of his reasons for this was the mistaken belief that ‘Lei’ stemmed from Spanish influence.
After the Second World War, Italians were keen to shake off Mussolini’s influence, and turned back to 'Lei’ when speaking to people in authority positions. Note: The use of ‘voi’ as a formal ‘you’ in standard Italian (not the southern dialects mentioned above) still carries fascist associations and should generally be avoided.
Cappuccino
Photo: Depositphotos
When cappucinos were first invented, they were very different from the ones you'll find at your local bar today, and were made from coffee, sugar, egg yolks and cream.
The resulting light brown shade reminded people of the hooded robes traditionally worn by Capuchin monks, so they christened the new kind of coffee 'cappuccino' or 'little Capuchin'.
The Capuchin monks themselves got their names from their hoods (the Italian word for hood, 'cappuccio', comes from the Latin 'caputium') which were long, pointed and brown, inspired by Francis of Assisi's clothes of poverty.
But when it comes to the drink, an even bigger shock is that the cappuccino didn’t even originate in Italy - there is no evidence for it existing on the peninsular until the 20th century (when the invention of fridges allowed them to swap the egg and cream for milk), however the early forms of the beverage were attested in Austria as a ‘kapuziner’ two hundred years earlier.
The traditional version of the 'kapuziner' can still be found in Austrian cafes, with just a drop of cream, while the Austrians have re-adopted the Italian term cappuccino for the milkier version.
This article was first published in 2016.
READ ALSO:
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