Page 14 - Italian American Herald - July 2021

14 ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM | JULY2021 ITALIAN-AMERICANHERALD ITALIAN MADE FUN & SIMPLE
The lazy hazy days of summer are upon us. So, we thought rather than a lesson requiring deep thought and time to study, we make it informative, easy to absorb yet a learning tool
for our readers. What are some words people think are Italian but are not? There are several reasons why this occurs. We begin with learners of Italian outside of Italy. A perfect example occurs here in America. The “Italian” spoken by Italians and their descendants, sometimes referred to as Italianese is a conglomerate of Italian dialects, some proper Italian and made-up vocabulary of Italianized English words.
Let's begin with a sampling of commonly used words that are Italianized English words that many readers might remember hearing nonno or nonna using, some lingering even into today.
Italianese
Businesso Bosso Checca Cenciarella Chizze Fresce Giobba Sanguiccio Scianiare Sciumecco Troboli
English
business boss cake ginger ale kids fresh
job sandwich to shine shoemaker troubles
Italian
affari padrone torta spuma ragazzini scostumato impiego tramezzino lustrare Calzolaio Guai
You can research your surname on these two websites:
• surnames.behindthename.com/names/usage/italian/ • cognomix.it/mappe-dei-cognomi-italiani.
There are words that are Italian, which are heard here, that derive from a variety of southern dialects, and are now in common usage.
Here's an example: Paisà or paisan. The correct Italian word is compaesano or paesano, which means a person who comes from the same village. Today, in the two aforementioned colloquial forms, they more commonly can be heard here than in modern-day Italy.
Lastly, there are Italian words that are often misused or misunderstood by non-speaking Italians or even Italian Americans who never really studied their heritage language in depth.
Let's begin with al fresco, which English speakers use for dining outside. In Italian, it means in prison. “Let's have dinner al fresco" is used for having dinner in a garden or in any event not indoors. In Italy, it means having a meal in jail, something not very desirable. Al fresco literally means in a cool place, and it is used because in the old times prisons had no heating.
Bella figura, which translates as being beautiful or elegant, is used this literal way by English speakers, as it relates mainly to a person's looks. In Italian, the term is equivalent
to cattiva figura, grama figura, magra figura, figura di merda (vulgar), or figuraccia. This array of expressions clearly indicates bella figura in its proper Italian usage is not endearing
or flattering by any means. A figuraccia is when one underperforms leaving the other dissatisfied or commits a blunder. You may make a magra when you inadvertently cause the other discomfort, mistake or forget a name, anything that causes you and the other to feel embarrassed. A figuraccia is therefore if you invite a friend over for dinner and burn the food, or if you are invited for a party and overdress when all others show up in jeans and tees. Bella figura is the opposite meaning a bad impression.
Finally, there are the words we feature in our monthly lessons, falsi amici, false friends. These words look similar to English, but are not cognates. Let’s look at one now. Drogheria, not a drug store in Italian. In Italian drogheria is a grocery store. In Italy, a drug store is defined by one word, farmacia, which of course means pharmacy.
This month we are deviating from our traditional surname format to answer two questions that have been posed to us by some of our readers. The first and most
often asked is whether Italian surnames are regional. The answer is not cut-and-dried for all regions and all names. Let's examine the surname Rossi. It is one of the most common in Italy. However while it is most frequently found in Lombardia and Emilia-Romagna,
it is common throughout the country. Therefore, don’t assume that when you meet someone whose surname is Rossi that you’ll really know where they’re from.
Let's look at another Italian surname, Moser. It possibly derives from the name
of the Franco-Belgian and German regions bathed by the Meuse and Moselle rivers linked in turn to the German moos,
which means “marsh, swamp,” or from
the toponymal Moso in Val Passiria in the province of Bolzano. Its origin is probably to be connected to the marshy territory that was once south of Miola, a hamlet of Baselga di Piné. From the Pinè area, in particular from Faida and Miola, the surname spread widely throughout Trentino. The surname Moser is specific to Trentino-Alto Adige. Therefore, if you ever meet someone called Moser, he or she is likely to be from that area.
Other names that are very regional
are Brambilla, Mannino, or Morselli, with the latter being very common also in the province of Mantova, which is part of Lombardy but where the dialect and the overall culture is closer to the one in Emilia.
So, there are some national names, some that are very regional, but even with the very regional names there are people who have that name in different regions. While a Mannino is likely of Sicilian origin, he or she can easily be from Liguria, with just grandparents from Messina and having relatives residing in Piemonte.
As in many other places around the
world, Italy is also packed with occupational surnames which refer to an occupation, a craft, or a job:
• Ferrari (“blacksmiths”)
• Sartori (“tailors”)
• Galli (“roosters”)
• Fattori (“farmers”) Interestingly, another common trait
shared by many other Italian surnames is the abundance of color-related etymologies: Bianchi (“whites”), Rossi, (“reds”), Verdi, (“greens”), Neri (“blacks”), Viola (“violet”), Rosa (“pink”) and so forth.
Now, going back for a moment to the surname Moser, we address the next question about Italian surnames that don't end in
a vowel. It is a typical misconception that Italian words always end in vowels. As we can learn from the surname Moser, nothing can be further from the truth!
Quite a number of Italian words don't end in vowels. Certainly, they are fewer compared to their sister romance languages, but they exist. This rule applies to Italian surnames
as well. Most that do, such as Moser, have origins outside of modern-day Italy and often reflect remnants of surnames connected to colonization and foreign occupations.
Vasquez or Lopes are common in parts of Sicily. DeAngelis is common throughout Italy and retains strong Latin roots. Italian surnames ending in -ich would pinpoint those surnames to be from in and around Trieste.
In conclusion, one can also easily see that many Italian surnames do not end in vowels. As indicated above, they are frequently found in peripheral regions like Trentino- Alto Adige, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Sardinia, and Aosta Valley. The reason for this is simple: They are either direct Latin reminiscences or places that have had many influences, language-wise, which in turn ended up shaping their history, traditions, languages, and surnames.