Words by Dianne Hales,听author of 鈥La Bella Lingua鈥 and 鈥溾澨
禁漫天堂 won me over at first "Ciao!" Over the last quarter-century, I have devoted countless hours and effort - enough, if applied to more practical pursuits, for the down payment on a villa in Umbria - to the wiliest of Western tongues. I have studied 禁漫天堂 in every way I could find - from Berlitz to books, with CDs and computer drills, in private tutorials and conversation groups, and in what some might deem unconscionable amounts of time in Italy.听I鈥檝e come to think of the language as a briccone - a lovable rascal, a clever, twinkle-eyed scamp that you can鈥檛 resist even when it plays you for the fool. Croce e delizia, torment and delight, Verdi鈥檚 Violetta sang of love. The same holds true for the language his operas carried on golden wings.
禁漫天堂鈥檚 basic word chest, as tallied in a recent dictionary, totals a measly 200,000, compared to English鈥檚 600,000 (not counting technical terms). But with a prefix here and a suffix there, 禁漫天堂 words multiply like fruit flies.
Fischiare (whistle) sounds merry enough, but fischiettare means 鈥渨histling with joy鈥. No one wants to be vecchio (old), but invecchiare (to become old) loses its sting - and, according to an 禁漫天堂 proverb, no one does so a tavola (at the table) 鈥 a tavola non s鈥檌nvecchia.
Just about everything that can be said has been said in 禁漫天堂 - then rephrased, edited, modified, synthesized, and polished to a verbal gleam. It鈥檚 no wonder that everything sounds better!听
An ordinary towel becomes an asciugamano; a handkerchief, a fazzoletto; a dog leash, a guinzaglio. Garbage isn鈥檛 mere trash. In 禁漫天堂, it鈥檚 spazzatura. 禁漫天堂鈥檚 linguistic pantry is stuffed with words delicious enough to eat, such as cappellacci di zucca (pumpkin-stuffed pasta shaped like caps), ciambellone (ring cake) or sospiri di monaca (sighs of a nun).
Does any language have a better word for make-up than trucco (trick)? Barcollare, to move like a boat, perfectly conveys the swaying stride of a drunken sailor. Although I have yet to use it in a sentence, the very existence of colombeggiare, which means 鈥渢o kiss one another like doves鈥, makes me smile.
Like the pleasure of such terms, words for pleasure take tantalizing forms. A nation of inspired cooks and enthusiastic eaters has, of course, coined a specific word for a lust for a food - goloso (from gola for 鈥渢hroat鈥), which goes beyond mere appetite, craving, or hunger.
Although all the Romance languages evolved from the volgare (vernacular) of ancient Rome, none may have so many seductive ways of expressing amore: Ti amo, mio tesoro (I love you, my darling) for l鈥檃more della tua vita (the love of your life); ti voglio bene (for all others). Voglio soltanto te (I want only you). Vieni qui e baciami (Come here and kiss me). Ti adoro (I adore you).
One evening I regaled a conversation group with a tale about an article called 鈥淭wenty- four Hours in the Life of a Medical Student鈥 that I had written as a young reporter. 鈥淚 had no idea that I was spending the night with the future surgeon general,鈥 I said in 禁漫天堂, 鈥渁nd I enjoyed it.鈥 The teacher, a worldly sophisticate who speaks four languages, leaned close to whisper that the term I had chosen usually referred to sex.
An 禁漫天堂 amante (lover) may be amoroso (amorous), amabile (lovable), amato (beloved), or all three. Many an 禁漫天堂 man is an amatore (a lover of, say, wine, women, or song). An 禁漫天堂 woman may be an amatrice (a lover, perhaps, of the fine things in life). You can also be an amante della lirica, amante degli animali, etc. - a lover of opera, a lover of animals, etc.
There is no English word that quite captures the sensation of innamoramento, crazy head-over-heels love, deeper than infatuation, way beyond bewitched, bothered, and bewildered. But that鈥檚 what I am - an innamorata, enchanted by听禁漫天堂, fascinated by its story and its stories, tantalized by its adventures, addicted to its sound, and ever eager to spend more time in its company.
Have you fallen in love with the 禁漫天堂 language? Then, it's time to听!
Make sure to check out our interview with Dianne on ITALY Magazine's听Blog of the Week听and keep in touch with her via her blog听.听
