Page 14 - Italian American Herald - March 2020

14 ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM | MARCH2020 ITALIAN-AMERICANHERALD ITALIAN MADE FUN&SIMPLE
Spring is here and what is on the minds of many is the beautiful weather that this season brings. Today’s lesson will help teach you how to talk about the weather, especially if a trip to “sunny” Italy is planned for your next vacation. We start with the vocabulary
There is a storm. This month’s proverb
It is Corsican. Despite Corsica’s French connection, Corsican is an Italian sub-language.
Corso: A bacia t’hà l’anchi corti.
Italiano: Le bugie hanno le gambe corte.
English: Lies have short legs.
(Figuratively it signifies that lies slowly but surely take liars down.)
This month’s falso amico
This month’s falso amico is discreto, usually not meaning discreet, but fair or moderate. The prices are fair. I prezzi sono discreti. He is a very discreet person. È una persona molto circospetta.
Surnames and Their Origins
that you will need to start you off.
English
air barometer blizzard climate cloud cloudburst cloudy dew
dusk
fog
frost
hail
ice
Italian
l’aria
il barometro la tormenta il clima
la nuvola
il temporale nuvoloso
la rugiada il crepuscolo la nebbia
il gelo
la grandine il ghiaccio
lightning il lampo
mist la foschia
moon la luna northeast wind la tramontana precipitation la precipitazione rain (noun) la pioggia
rain (verb) piovere
snow la neve southwest wind il vento australe storm la tempesta
sun il sole
weather report il bollettino
meteorologico
Before we proceed further, what we didn’t tell you is that in order to talk about weather, we need to review the irregular verb, fare. Let’s take a look at it.
Conjugation table for the Italian verb fare fare: to do, make; act (like); perform; create Irregular second-conjugation Italian verb io faccio
tu fai Lei/lui/lei fa
noi facciamo voi fate
loro, Loro fanno
So for the purpose of weather, you will need to use the third person singular form, fa. Example: Fa freddo. It’s cold. Italian literally say “It makes cold”
as opposed to English “It is cold.”
Here are some basics weather phrases. Fa caldo It’s hot.
Fa freddo It’s cold.
Fa fresco It’s cool.
Fa bel tempo It’s beautiful weather. C’è bel tempo It’s beautiful weather. Fa brutto tempo It’s bad weather.
Fa cattivo tempo It’s bad weather.
Here are some other useful phrases.
È umido
C’è umidità There is humidity. È soleggiato It’s sunny.
C’è il sole There is sun.
È nuvoloso It’s cloudy.
Ci sono le nuvole There are clouds. È ventoso It’s windy.
C’è il vento There is wind.
È tempestoso It’s stormy.
C’è il temporale There is a storm.
Italian-American Herald
Following the holiday surname features, this month we return to our traditional surname feature and continue with the Italian surnames that start with the letter M.
MONTE – This surname derives from the word “monte,” meaning mountain. It is a fairly common surname and is found in 19 of Italy’s 20 regions. It is most prevalent in Campania and least in Molise. It does not appear in any vital statistic records
in Umbria. Variations: MONTELLI, MONTINI, MONTECCHI, MONTESI, MONTESANO, MONTICELLI, MONTI.
MORGANTE – This surname derives from the first name Morgante, made famous by the character of Morgante, a giant in a novel by Luigi Pulci. It is a surname found in all 20 regions. It is most prevalent in Lazio and least in Molise and the Aosta Valley. Variations: MURGANTE.
MORELLI – This surname derives from the first name and nickname “Maurus,” meaning someone coming from Mauritania, Northern Africa, or is derived from the medieval adjective “moro” meaning Saracen. It is found in all 20 regions. It is most prevalent in Tuscany and least found in the Aosta Valley. Variations: MORINI, MORUCCI, MORUZZI, MORUCCHIO,
MORATELLI, MORISI, MORATTI, MORAZZI, MORASSUTTI, MORESCHI, MORONI, MORO.
MORRONE – This surname derives from the name of the town of Morrone del Sannio in the province of Campobasso in the Molise region, or also possibly from derived from the word “morro,” meaning rock. It too is found in all 20 regions. Despite a possible Molisano origin, it is most prevalent in Calabria and least in Umbria.
MOSCA – This surname is derived
from the word “mosca,” meaning fly, and referring in earlier times as a nickname
to indicate an annoying person. Families with this surname may have had ancestors who were annoying. There must have been many annoying people back when because this surname is quite common and found
in all 20 regions. It is most prevalent in Lombardia and least found in the Aosta Valley. Variations: MOSCHI, MUSCA, MUSCAS, MOSCHELLI, MOSCARELLA, MOSCARELLO, MOSCARIELLO MOSCARELLI, MUSCARELLA, MUSCARELLO, MOSCHETTA, MOSCHETTO, MOSCHINO, MOSCHINI, MOSCHIN, MOSCAROLI, MOSCONE, MOSCONI, MOSCOLONI, MOSCARDO.
You can research your surname on these two websites:
• surnames.behindthename.com/names/usage/italian/ • cognomix.it/mappe-dei-cognomi-italiani.
Come visit the first Italian national parish in America. Discover our rich history and marvel over our two strikingly beautiful churches. Seated in the heart of the Italian Market in South Philadelphia.
Celebrate 10am Sunday Mass at St. Mary Magdalen or 12 noon Mass at St. Paul Church. For more information go to our website: www.stpaulparish.net
Saint Paul Church
923 Christian Street
St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi Church
712 Montrose Street