A curious fact about the noun ospite in Italian is that is has a double meaning – it can refer to either a guest or a host. This is because, in Latin, the word hospes, from which ospite derives, alluded to the “reciprocity of the pact of hospitality” – or in other words, the idea …
How does your colleague know you’re looking for a new job? Because your other colleague overheard a phone call. And how does half the office already know by lunchtime? Because news travels really fast when a ficcanaso is involved! ficcanaso Ficcanaso is a compound noun made up of two parts: the verb ficcare (to stick, …
From the 13th to the 16th century, men and women commonly wore light headdresses made of wool, cloth, or canvas, secured under the chin with laces. Over time, these evolved into a staple of women’s nightwear and a standard way to keep infants’ heads warm. In Italian, this style is known as a cuffia (cap …
Is there someone in your life with whom you have a perfectly harmonious relationship? If so, you could describe your bond using the adjective affiatato. affiatato close / close-knit Affiatato can be translated as close or close-knit, but in English, it’s just as common to use wordier descriptions to illustrate the relationship. Let’s look at …
An everyday object we would struggle to live without is the humble busta. Let’s discover all the different meanings associated with this word! busta envelope / case / bag According to Treccani, the word busta derives from the Old French word boiste (which evolved into the modern French boîte, meaning box). This, in turn, comes …
One word in particular echoed throughout the shark documentary my son and I watched the other evening: torbido, used every few minutes to describe the murky depths with which the scuba-divers had to contend. torbido In English, we have the word turbid, which comes from the same Latin origin turbidus, but we would be more …