We’ve gone over English word of Portuguese,
Spanish, Polish and French origin. It is now the turn of Italian!
Italian is a language that has given
English many words but in different ways as the other
languages we wrote about before. Spanish and
Portuguese gave us words related to the ‘new world’ of America, Polish brought the names of some ‘exotic’ products with its immigrants and French imposed itself through 300 years of rule. Instead Italian came into English through the artistic works and the cuisine of the country.
English The arts
Many words used today in English related to the arts are Italian words that haven’t had many changes in spelling or pronunciation.
Most
musical technical terms are Italian words. However, there are still many words related to music that most people will know:
bass (from basso),
opera and
piano are three common words. There are also others that are used when talking about music but in other contexts as well such as
diva,
duo,
virtuoso,
maestro and
prima donna.
In
art and architecture we can also find many other words:
patina,
replica,
belvedere,
fresco (from affresco),
portico,
piazza,
balcony (from balcone),
studio,
villa and
grotto (from grotta). Some colour names like
magenta,
sienna (from terra de Sienna) and
sepia (from seppia) come from Italian.
Lingua franca,
novel (from novella),
stanza,
motto and
canto are words of Italian origin used when talking about
literature and linguistics. While
extravaganza (from stravaganza),
scenario and
finale are used in the
theatre world.
The Food
Beyond all the words related to
pasta (like
fusilli or
cannelloni) and coffee (like
latte and
barista) that come from Italian, there are many other words that we now use in English related to the world of food and cooking.
Vegetables like
cauliflower (from cavolfiore),
broccoli (from broccolo),
zucchini (from zucchina),
artichoke (from articiocco) and
fava all have Italian origins. The name of many kinds of cheese like
mozzarella and
provolone come straight from Italian without modifications. However, other words like
sultana (from sultanina) and
biscuit (from biscotto) have changed quite a bit.
The natural world
Italians have a history of exploring the world, so it should be no surprise that many words related to nature and geography also come from Italian, especially those related to bodies of water and volcanos:
volcano (from vulcano) and
lava;
riviera,
marina (from mare),
cascade (from cascata),
lagoon (from laguna),
archipelago (from arcipelago) and
littoral (from litorale).
Famous Italians
Several Italian citizens have also been used as inspiration for naming: things Amerigo Vespucci’s name was used when naming
America, Luigi Galvani gave us
galvanise and his competitor Alessandro Volta inspired the word
Volt. And Christopher Columbus received two places after his name:
Colombia and
Columbia.
To know more about is always better to learn the
English language with Way
Language school.