Ivy, which is known as edera in Italian, is an evergreen climbing plant (pianta rampicante) that thrives on walls, rocks and trees. The name comes from the Latin hedera. Edera is a feminine noun starting with a vowel, so it takes the following definite and indefinite articles: Edera velenosa is what Italians call poison ivy. …
An Italian word that sounds as lovely as the thing it indicates is rugiada, which means dew. It is thought to have entered the language from the Latin ros via the Gallo-Italic rosada. Rugiada is a feminine noun whose plural form is rugiade. (Note, however, that the plural form is used far less than the …
The Italian term sasso is fairly comprehensive in that it can be used to denote anything rock-like, from the smallest pebbles and stones to rocks, boulders, and even larger masses. In fact, it can even refer to rock faces and mountains, especially in toponyms such as Gran Sasso d’Italia, a massif in the Apennine Mountains …
One of the words for a dandelion in Italian is dente di leone. However, it is also known by a number of other names including insalata matta (literally ‘crazy salad’), soffione (literally ‘big blower’ due to the fluffy white head of seeds that can be easily blown off) and dente di cane (literally ‘dog’s tooth). …
The word raffica in Italian is difficult to translate into English using just one blanket term. Raffica is a feminine noun. The plural is raffiche. la raffica una raffica le raffiche delle raffiche What’s important to know is that raffica is used to describe things that are relentless, fast and continuous. In weather terminology, for …
As I was taking my son to nursery school early this morning, I noticed him looking at the sidewalk and grass, mesmerised by the shimmering layer of brina (frost / hoarfrost) that had powdered them white overnight. Brina is a feminine noun whose plural form is brine. (Note, however, that the plural form is very …