Today’s word of the day is part of our Italian Christmas Word Advent Calendar series. Each day throughout December, we’ll post a word that is related to the holiday season. Enjoy! It is said that the Santa Claus lives is in an unspecified place at or near the North Pole, which is known as Polo Nord in …
The Italian word for cookie is biscotto (masculine, plural: biscotti). As you probably guessed, it shares the same origin as the word biscuit. The custom of leaving milk (latte) and biscotti for Santa Claus and his reindeer comes from Germany, where it was once customary to decorate the tree not with decorations but with apples, …
Today’s word of the day is part of our Italian Christmas Word Advent Calendar series. Each day throughout December, we’ll post a word that is related to the holiday season. Enjoy! The word for manger in Italian is mangiatoia (feminine, plural: mangiatoie). It is made up of two parts: mangiare (to eat) + the instrumental suffix -toia …
An icicle is a column of ice (ghiaccio) formed when dripping water freezes in sub-zero temperatures, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Italian word for icicle derives from the word for ice: ghiacciolo (masculine, plural: ghiaccioli). I ghiaccioli che pendevano dalle case scintillavano come diamanti. The icicles that hung from the houses sparkled like …
How does Santa Claus manage to enter the homes (case) all the world’s children? Not through the door, not through the window, but by shimmying his way down the chimney of course! The word for chimney in Italian is camino (masculine, plural: camini), which mustn’t be confused with the similar-sounding cammino meaning walk or hike. …
According to the American and English Christmas tradition, Santa Claus puts toys (giochi) and sweets (caramelle) inside the stockings of the children who have been good, and coal – or carbone in Italian – inside those of naughty children. In Italy, it is Befana, the Italian Christmas witch, who has the job of filling the …