Hello Everyone!
Sorry for my absence from the blog, my computer decided to break down on me! But finally, I’m back!!!
In this article, I want to share some fascinating curiosities I recently discovered. I find them quite interesting, and maybe you already know them, but they were new to me! 🙂
First Curiosity: Did you know that the letter “z” is a foreign letter in Italian? It is not originally Italian—what a surprise! As Mariangela Galatea Vaglio writes in her book “L’Italiano è bello,” the letter “z” comes from ancient Greek and didn’t even exist in the Latin alphabet. The Romans adopted it, and thanks to them, we now have this letter in Italian. So, we have words like zanzara, zebra, zaino, etc., which all begin with “z.”
Second Curiosity: The group of words starting with “pn-” is connected to the Greek word “pneuma,” which means “blow.” In medicine, we have words like pneumotorace, pneumologo, pneumococco, etc. In colloquial Italian, we use “pneumatico” to refer to car wheels. We say “il pneumatico” and “i pneumatici.” However, if we refer to perfect human beings inspired by the Pneuma, the divine breath, then we should use “gli pneumatici.” Interesting, right?
Third Curiosity: The pronoun “ne” in Italian means “this thing.” It comes from the Latin “inde,” which means “from there.” It can be an adverb of location, a personal or demonstrative pronoun preceded by the preposition “di” or “da.” For example, “Ne parlo con lui” means “Parlo con lui di questa cosa” (I talk with him about this thing). Whenever you know the subject, you use “ne” to avoid repetition.
Now that I am back, I will continue sharing every little or big discovery about this beautiful language and the others I speak!
STAY TUNED!!! Hope you have a nice autumn season!
Gregorace Translations 