Italian Word of the Day: Collina (hill)

We’ve already covered mountains—montagne—in a previous article, but what about their smaller, humbler cousins? In Italian, the word for hill is collina. collina hill According to Devoto-Oli, the feminine noun collina comes from Late Latin collina, which is the feminine form of the adjective derived from collis (meaning “hill” in Latin). A possible synonym for …

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Italian Word of the Day: Despota (tyrant / despot)

Italian word "despota"

The word for a person (usually a king or ruler) who holds absolute power, and exercises it in a cruel or oppressive way, is despota in Italian. It comes from the Greek despótēs which was the word for the “master of the house”. In ancient Italian, the word ended in an -o rather than an …

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Italian Word of the Day: Castello (castle)

Where we live in Wales, it feels like there’s a castle around every corner. But Italy, too, boasts its fair share of stunning castles, my favourite being Castel dell’Ovo in Naples! As you may have guessed, the Italian word for castle is castello. castello castle Castello is derived directly from the Latin castellum, which is …

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Italian Word of the Day: Dunque (therefore / so / well / point)

Some words are staples of everyday conversation, and in Italian, dunque is one of them. dunque so / therefore / well Dunque is a conjunction, adverb and even a noun as we’ll discover further down. It originates from Late Latin dunc, which is likely a blend of dumque (meaning “while, at the same time”) and …

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Italian Word of the Day: Stacanovista (workaholic)

While listening to Radio Italia, a word caught my attention during a report about how Germans no longer embody the Protestant work ethic as strongly as they did just a few years ago. That word was stacanovista—the Italian term for a workaholic. stacanovista workaholic / hard worker This word derives from the noun stacanovismo (or …

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Italian Word of the Day: Freddura (pun / quip)

The other day, while we were having lunch at our favourite local restaurant in Turin, the waiter—looking more cheerful than usual—came over and asked if he could share a few of his favourite freddure (the Italian word for puns or quips). He proceeded to list three, but we only managed to understand one! freddura pun …

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