I don’t know about you, but I tend to be irresistibly drawn to words that sound exactly like the thing or action they describe. These onomatopoeic gems are relatively rare but I find that they infuse language with such flavour and vibrance, especially in one as naturally melodic as Italian!
Today we will be talking about one such word – pullulare – which can be translated in dozens of ways including:
- to proliferate
- to teem
- to multiply
- to swarm
- to bristle
- to overflow
- to pullulate (yes, this verb exists in English too!)
You get the idea!
pullulare
Before we begin, I should clarify that pullulare isn’t actually onomatopoeic in origin – it comes from the Latin verb pullulare, which in turn comes from pullŭlus, which meant both the shoot or sprout of a plant, and a young animal. The word can be traced back even further to pullus, which also meant both sprout and chick. Indeed, the ancient meaning of pullulare was, in fact, to sprout or to put out shoots. (Today Italians would use the verb germogliare instead.)
Important: while pullulate isn’t a particularly common verb in English, pullulare continues to be used in everyday Italian.
Pullulare is an -ARE verb, which should be conjugated in the following way in the present tense. (And yes, I admit some of these are a bit of a tongue-twister!)
- io pullulo
- tu pulluli
- lui / lei pullula
- noi pulluliamo
- voi pullulate
- loro pullulano
So, what kinds of things can pullulare? Well, pretty much anything that has the potential to proliferate, from swarming insects to people buzzing around the supermarket on a busy Sunday afternoon.
L’oceano pullulava di squali.
The ocean was teeming with sharks.
Gli insetti pullulano quando fa caldo.
The insects multiply when it’s hot.
Although most frequently used to describe large numbers of people, animals and insects, pullulare‘s usage also extends to physical objects and abstract ideas, such as houses, events, restaurants and so on. In this case, the translation is more likely to be “full of” or “to spring/pop up”.
Nuove case pullulano per tutto il paese.
New houses are springing up all over the country.
Hai notato che questa zona pullula di ristoranti indiani?
Have you noticed that this area is full of Indian restaurants?
While I personally have a soft spot for pullulare, there are other synonyms you can use such as moltiplicarsi, proliferare, brulicare, or formicolare.
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.
