I’ve been stung by many api (bees) and vespe (wasps) in my lifetime, but I thank my lucky stars that I’ve never been on the receiving end of a calabrone sting! The word calabrone comes from the Latin crabronem of the same meaning. Calabrone is a masculine noun. The plural is calabroni. un calabroneil calabrone …
Although the words lizard and lucertola share the same Latin origin – the word lacertus which meant lizard, sea fish or muscle – I think many of you would agree that the Italian has a much prettier ring to it! Lucertola is a feminine singular noun that becomes lucertole in its plural form. la lucertolauna …
The humble centrepiece of the Thanksgiving (Festa del Ringraziamento) dinner table: is the tacchino (turkey). Tacchino is a masculine noun ending in -o, making its plural form tacchini. Note that the feminine versions also exists for a female turkey: tacchina and tacchine. il tacchinoun tacchino la tacchinauna tacchina i tacchinidei tacchini le tacchinedelle tacchine The …
The word for a parrot in Italian is pappagallo. It entered the Italian language from the Arabic babaġā via the Greek papagâs. Pappagallo is a masculine noun. The plural is pappagalli. un pappagalloil pappagallo dei pappagallii pappagalli Ieri ho visitato uno zoo e ho visto tanti pappagalli colorati. Yesterday I visited a zoo and saw …
The Italian word for a frog is rana. It derives from the Latin word of the same spelling. Rana is a feminine noun. Its plural is rane. la ranauna rana le ranedelle rane Among the most well-known types of frogs there is the rana rossa (common frog), rana toro (American bullfrog) and the rana verde …
My favourite pizza topping of all time, with perhaps the exception of gorgonzola cheese, is the anchovy. This word translates as acciuga (feminine) in Italian, though it is usually seen in its plural form acciughe (anchovies). This small oily fish is found throughout the world’s oceans, and keeps very well in oil (acciughe sott’olio), brine …