As the Italian Langventure is coming to an end, let us get mesmerized by one more unexpected gem it has in store for us hidden in Italian words. Some of them carry meanings so specific and nuanced they require entire phrases or sentences in English to convey; others are so integral to the English-speaking reality that you'd be surprised to learn they actually come from Italian.
No need to even travel far to encounter such a word: "America" has Italian origins! It kind of makes sense now that you're thinking about it, right? The origin of this word is a tale steeped in the spirit of exploration, the ambition of cartographers, and the complexity of historical misinterpretations. At the heart of the story is Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian navigator and explorer who lived during the age of European expansion (late 15th — early 16th centuries) and played a crucial role in recognizing that the lands we now habitually call the Americas were not part of Asia, as Columbus initially believed, but a "New World" altogether!
In 1507, a German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller created a world map. Using Vespucci's accounts of his voyages, he made the groundbreaking decision to label the southern part of the newly discovered landmass "America" on his map, in honor of Amerigo Vespucci. The name stuck — first to the southern portion of the continent, and then eventually to the northern lands as well.
Exploring that mozzafiato language, I also noticed how many words in English originated from Italian. And I'm not talking about those that are related to music (like adagio or staccato), architecture (like cupola or mezzanine), literature (like novel or stanza), theatre (like scenario or finale), art (like adjectives grotesque or picturesque), or even colors (like magenta or terracotta) or food (like al dente, mozzarella or espresso).
By the way, another words with the Italian flair is jeans! To be fair, it didn't really come from the Italian language, but was taken from the French jean fustian — the phrase that means "cloth of Genoa," an Italian city where a twilled cloth originated from. Kind of like tarantula, a spider who was named after Taranto, a city in Southern Italy where apparently there were a lot of spiders.
The history of the word ditto also starts with Italian: some early 17th century English speakers noticed that in Italian, ditto or detto was used to refer to a thing mentioned previously. So great was the obvious utility of ditto, in fact, that English speakers put the word to use in ways the Italians had not thought to do: first as an adjective that quickly followed b the adoption of the noun use, and by the second decade of the 18th century, ditto was also functioning in English as an adverb and as a verb! Nowadays, the main reason we use it is as a sign of agreement.
Similar to ditto, the word motto also is of Italian "descent" and literally means "word".
Fiasco sounds quite Italian, so no surprise there, but its story roots in the art of... Italian glassblowers! The literal translation means "flask" or "glass bottle". According to one theory, when Venetian glassblowers realized a beautiful piece was flawed, they turned it into an ordinary bottle. When that happened, a would-be work of art was downgraded into a mere fiasco — which is, according to that theory, how this tragic word came to mean "complete failure."
Same way the Italian paparazzo (note: a made-up word), although feels now like a word that evolved out of some Italian history, in reality only appeared in 1960 as a name of a character, a freelance photographer, in Fellini's film La Dolce Vita. And the word ciabatta, just as this type of crispy crusted, floury bread itself, was only created in 1982; and the literal translation of the word is "slipper" for the flat, oval shape it has.
So, apparently, you and I already know a lot of Italian words: desk, umbrella, carousel, zucchini and risotto, lottery, arcade, bankrupt, confetti, salami and ravioli, quarantine, cascade, alert, ghetto, bandit, spaghetti and pesto, attack, casino, venture, brigade, cauliflower and broccoli, career, colonel, stiletto, graffiti, even bimbo, and many more others! We just haven't ever looked at our knowledge of Italian from that angle :)
I quite enjoyed how Italian has so much in common with Russian :) Like this concept of menefreghismo — a word designed out of the Italian phrase "me ne frego" ("I don't care", "I couldn't care less"). In Russian, there's a similar slang word that is used very often, as well as the notion — пофигизм (puh-fig-eezm). It's when you take things not too seriously, without excessive drama or worries. There are different degrees to that, surely, and it can turn into indifference and even negligence, but normally we talk here about being chill, unaffected by anxiety of the current events or thoughts about the future.
Some words made me happy with their existence. You know, how sometimes you want to say something using only one word, but you just don't have it in your language. So you use what everyone of your fellow "languagemates" would — phrases including several words. And it's OK, but when you know one word to say exactly what you want, dang it, it feels good! :) German and Japanese are famous for that, but these two "trips" are yet to come. In Italian there're many words that don't exist in other languages, straight-to-the-point, that name things precisely and save you time and effort of describing them.
On, it feels good! :) German and Japanese are famous for that, but these two "trips" are yet to come. In Italian there're many words that don't exist in other languages, straight-to-the-point, that name things precisely and save you time and effort of describing them.
My favorite one in Italian is culaccino. Yes, technically, you could say "ring" or "watermark", but the word culaccino is derived from culo meaning "the bottom" or "butt" of something, turning that annoying ring into a literal "bum-stain" of the glass! It can also mean the end piece of something, say, like a salami or a loaf of bread. Or the last dregs of drink left in your glass. Versatile, but precise.
Another "pinpointing" Italian word is sprezzatura — the art of making something difficult look easy. This concept is deeply ingrained in Italian culture, particularly in areas like fashion, art, and performance, and refers to effortless grace and nonchalance, but with an underlying mastery or skill hidden from view.
The term was first coined by Baldassare Castiglione in his seminal work, The Book of the Courtier (Il Libro del Cortegiano) in 1528. Castiglione described sprezzatura as a necessary quality for a courtier: the ability to perform complex tasks with such ease that they appear effortless. The true mastery, he argued, exists in concealing the effort itself. In today’s world, the term is still used to describe individuals who exude grace and sophistication, but without appearing to try too hard. In fashion, spezzatura could refer to someone perfectly combining casual and formal elements in their outfit, giving the impression as if they just "threw something on" without too much thought. They are polished, yet not overdone; refined, but never stiff.
In this way, sprezzatura has become synonymous with the art of living well — handling life’s demands with grace, while concealing the hard work that goes into it. The beauty of sprezzatura lies in the subtlety, in the way an individual can seamlessly integrate control and freedom. What a beautiful thing to name!
And these are just the words laying on the surface of Italian! Doesn't it make you want to learn more about this unexpected language? And next time you come across words like ditto or sprezzatura, you'll sure know there's more to them than meets the eye. It’s funny how some things don't translate easily, but that's what makes learning them so fun!
These unique Italian words give us a window into a different way of thinking and living — one that aptly captures life's little moments in such a special way. Even though English doesn't have direct equivalents, knowing these words makes you see and appreciate things in a fresh light, almost like discovering a new side of life we didn't have words for before.
Now, as I say my last goodbyes to the language I quite enjoyed learning about, I also want to recommend you to give it a try, too — just so you can find out for yourself what it is all about and how it sounds. Who knows, maybe this little attempt will ignite your desire to discover more, which might turn into a beginning of a great new Langventure: yours.
Arrivederci! (Uh-ree-vee-deh-r-chi!) Goodbye!
"What a spezzatura in this article! Magnificent!"
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