Today we’ll be looking at the Italian word spunto, which derives from the verb spuntare meaning to sprout or to crop up.
Spunto is a masculine noun that starts with sp-. For this reason, it takes the following articles:
lo spunto
uno spunto
gli spunti
degli spunti
In the world of the arts, the term spunto refers to the first few words of a line or notes of a song supplied by a prompter to help an actor or singer recall everything else, what is known as a cue or prompt in English.
Il suggeritore leggeva le didascalie e dava lo spunto agli attori.
The prompter read the captions and gave the actors cues.
By extension, it also refers to something from which inspiration is drawn, or that is used as an opportunity to start a discussion or initiative. In English, the best translations are usually idea or starting point. Here are a few common verbs you’ll see used with spunto in this particular sense of the word:
- prendere spunto (da) = to get an idea (from), to draw inspiration (from)
- avere lo spunto (da) = to get an idea (from), to draw inspiration (from)
- offrire lo spunto (per) = to offer a starting point (for)
- dare lo spunto (per) = to offer a starting point (for)
Per il suo nuovo film, il regista ha preso spunto da un incidente nel quale ha rischiato la vita.
For his new film, the director was inspired by an accident in which he almost died.
The phrase food for thought in English can be translated to spunto di riflessione in Italian.
Gli incendi in Sardegna ci offrono uno spunto di riflessione sul rapporto uomo-ambiente.
The fires in Sardinia offer food for thought on the relationship between man and the environment.
Yet another translation for spunto is sprint, used in sporting terms to talk about the sudden acceleration of a runner as they approach the finish line, or a soccer player racing toward the goal.
Spunto is also a synonym for accelerazione (acceleration) and avviamento (ignition) in the world of automobiles.
Finally, it can be used to describe the strong, acidic flavour that wine develops when, due to various defects, the ethyl alcohol begins to transform into acetic acid. For example, you can say questo vino ha preso lo spunto (this wine tastes acidic).
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
