QUesta is a story of words. And everything was born when a reader, Elena, wrote us in response to our service on foreigners who are untranslatable in the Italian language (12 words for a warm Christmas in December 2024). The reader tells how, inspired by the article, some time later he started A family game, but on the contrary: seeking Italian words untredable in other languages. A game that we wanted to do too.
12 Intraductible Italian words
It happens that you fight for your own language, as the event recalls at the origin of the celebration, on February 21, of the International day of the mother tongue: On that date, in 1952, some Bengali students of the University of Dacca were killed by the Pakistan police (who then also included Bangladesh) while protesting for the recognition of Bengali as an official language.
Words speak of us and can save us. In Dear MicheleNatalia Ginzburgwho sang that “family lexicon” and powerful in making us feel loved, he wrote: “I would remember that day not like a vague happy day but as a truthful and essential day for me and for you – writes the mother to the son Michele – destined to illuminate yours and my person, who have always exchanged words of a desired nature, never clear and necessary words but instead of gray, good -natured words”.
These “clear and necessary words”, finished in books and manuals, are also here, in this piece. We found them with Carmignani Carmignani, Translator and author with his colleague Elena Battista of Jump into the puddles (Rizzoli), knowing that “Hunting with untranslatable words means first of all to admit that each language sees reality in its own way»Says Carmignani. Ours sees it in Eurocentric mode, but it is also true that there is nothing objective.
What are the words of the year 2024. For Treccani it is “respect” (Getty Images)
Not even for the eye: «Greek does not distinguish purple from blue, given that in Greek literature we speak of the sea color of the wine. Spanish and English do not distinguish blue from the celestial And they always use only blue or Azul who then become light blue and Azul Marino »specifies Carmignani who has been coordinating for 25 years The author’s authorthe cycle of meetings on the literary translation at the Turin Book Fair. «The untranslatable captures an aspect of reality that another language has not focused. As in the case of feelings. Sometimes they are instead names of foods, musical instruments, plants. To look better to live, in essence, you need a name ». We have traced 12.
1. Mammone
Male child very tied to mom even in adulthood. «Never think of a female daughter with this term. Which means that real economic independence to them is not yet required and, therefore, why criticize them if they remain in the family? In the land of pizza and mandolin the male children so attached to the mother are those who should instead leave home as soon as possible or cut some umbilical cords when they are out of them, “says Ilide. An untranslatable-rifurious of the patriarchate, therefore. Or even a word that holds all the extreme meaning of mothers who makes Italians famous in the world.
2. Nap
It seems the consideration of the Spanish Siesta but this is done after lunch. Here we are talking about an extendable break at any time of the day and that will be able to appreciate only the peoples of the South besieged by the heat, especially in summer. That is, when it is unbearable and the necessary nap. “There is also the intraspherible” abbiocco “which technically means: feeling of heaviness and propionutic sleep to the nap” adds Ilide. And then there are the regional “Gabanella” (Rest in Bolognese) and “Pignichella” (Roman equivalent). How many breaks these Italians do!
3. Pantofolaio
That is, the one who does not like to go out, wants to stay at home and greatly appreciates living in slippers. The tone is joking but the rest is untranslatable. «It is nice that there are these words since Italy is a country all too open to other languages. Compared to Spain and France we are foreign and probably there is also a historical reason. The conservation of Italian purity has often been associated with the closure of the fascist twenty years. This is why it was then chosen to be more welcoming towards foreign terms »specifies Ilide.
4. Meriggiare
It is the joy of resting in a fresh and shady place, one of those where to spend the hot hours. «Luis Cernuda, a Spanish poet forced to exile, lived first in the USA and then in Mexico. One day he said that the peoples of North America cannot rest. The rhythms of industrial production and capitalist Calvinism widespread at a social level will have repressed the birth of words dedicated to rest »adds Ilide. Another story that takes place from us, and in the Mediterranean countries, where the concept of parking has a thousand nuances. “We know how to linger over time, indeed we take more than we are granted.” And we don’t feel guilty.
5. Gattara
The word – of clear Roman origin – was born to indicate those women who take care of the cats of the autonomous feline colonies who do not belong to anyone. «Today it indicates a woman who loves cats, or who has an out of the ordinary number at home. There is no precise definition. As a frequency of dictionaries, I always know that a word almost never collides perfectly with its meaning over time because everything changes and evolves ».
6. Menephonging
It takes art perhaps to be and we Italians are also artists, as well as sailors and poets. How much do you need to try that eague indifference towards one’s duties or of the rights of others? Perhaps very little for those born in Italy, but the fact that there is such a pregnant word that remains worthy of so much attention (little indifference).
7.
Intense and tormenting form of desire. What when you think of the romanticism of Italian love stories, you cannot fail to mention. And even if among the untranslatable words it would deserve an Oscar, we want to believe that not having such a specific term in other languages perhaps means that people suffer less. And maybe love more? Maybe.
8. Malamore
It was the title of a book by Concita De Gregorio but also that of an Enzo Carella song that will become famous 42 years later in the ruthless with Riccardo Scamarcio. It would also be perfect as a slogan of our houses given the numbers on feminicides in Italy. “The word indicates the love that becomes violence and which you can not escape” specifies ilide. And thank goodness, it comes to think, that in other languages there is no consideration.
9. Scugnizzo
Neapolitan term now entered the national language to indicate street brats or even lively and restless kids. In fact, who has ever seen them out of Italy? When the meaning, however, expands to that of a cunning and intelligent young man, lively, willing to “arrange” himself with scarcely honest outdoors, the stereotype of the middle Italian widespread in the world is brought alive.
10. Cazzimma
Always of Neapolitan origin, the untranslatable term indicating the opportunistic and cynical cunning does not make us make a beautiful figure as Italians abroad. Or maybe yes (and it would be all cazzimma, in fact). But: this constant practice of drawing water for your mill, in any situation, perhaps even taking advantage of friends and relatives, basically it is also an exercise to get better ever. Very useful as an attitude of a fixed character in the cinema, perhaps less for a citizen of the Italian Republic.
11. Camurria
And here Camilleri’s literature ended up on TV with the Commissioner Montalbano and the face of Luca Zingaretti. That annoying, boring thing he would do without, comes from the Sicilian language to the national one together with two others: Nirbusu (“nervous”) and Cabasisi (“You broke the Cabasisi”). And here between synonyms and dialectal intonations, the smile will always run away.
12. Scialla
Don’t worry, the Roman boys say. That is, you are calm, don’t irrigate you. An invitation perhaps to that lifestyle in which pleasures are celebrated, embracing a slow and indulgent approach to existence? The sweet life of the past, and the one in the ‘Bro version (so they are called the boys together) has perhaps returned to us, and abroad.
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