Today we have a word that I actually heard for the first time while playing the game Memory with my son. The theme of the game was animals, many of which were quite obscure!
colibrì
hummingbird
Colibrì is an invariable masculine noun. Invariable is just a fancy way of saying that its singular and plural forms are identical. Here are the definite and indefinite articles it takes:
- il colibrì = the hummingbird
- i colibrì = the hummingbirds
- un colibrì = a hummingbird
- dei colibrì = (some) hummingbirds
Ho visto un colibrì volare vicino alla finestra.
I saw a hummingbird fly by the window.
The word entered Italian through Spanish, whose word for hummingbird is also colibrí. According to the Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales (CNRTL), it might be derived from the Occitan colobro or colubro, meaning “snake” due to the hummingbird’s sudden bursts of anger. Other sources, such as Devoto-Oli, suggest a Caribbean origin.
In the word colibrì, the final syllable is stressed (i.e. it is pronounce co-li-BRI rather than co-LI-bri). For this reason, the final vowel ì must take an accent. Some other examples of words with word-final stressed vowels include libertà (freedom), caffè (coffee) and città (city).
Note: According to Treccani, colibrì may also be pronounced with the stress on the first syllable (CO-li-bri) but this variation is less common.
The world’s smallest bird is the bee hummingbird, known as either colibrì di Elena or colibrì ape in Italian.
Here are a few fun facts about colibrì:
- it is the only species of bird that can volare all’indietro (fly backwards)
- they migrano (migrate) alone, flying thousands of miles every year
- they battono le ali (beat their wings) 1000 times per minute
- they have no senso dell’olfatto (sense of smell)
Did you know that…?
Colibrì are also known informally as uccelli mosca. Mosca means fly (as in the insect) and uccelli means birds.
I colibrì sono gli uccelli più piccoli del mondo.
Hummingbirds are the smallest birds in the world.
In English, there’s a moth we refer to as the hummingbird hawk moth, owing to its striking resemblance to its avian counterpart. In Italian, it’s commonly known as sfinge del galio, but it can also be called sfinge colibrì, which literally translates to “hummingbird sphinx”.
A recent addition to the Italian music charts is Cesare Cremonini’s latest song, Colibrì. Immerse yourself in the lyrics below and sing along to the tune!
Nei tuoi occhi una seconda luna
Forse proprio quella da cui vieni tu
Prova un atterraggio di fortuna
Per non cadere giù
Colibrì, seguivi un colibrì
Ti ha portato dalla giungla a una metropoli
Colibrì, seguivi un colibrì
Sai anche a me cadere fa paura
Però noi siamo qui
A second moon in your eyes
Maybe the very one you come from
Try a crash landing
To avoid falling down
Hummingbird, you were following a hummingbird
It took you from the jungle to a metropolis
Hummingbird, you were following a hummingbird
You know, falling scares me too
But we are here
Lo sai, che come un sole, ti seguirei
Verso cieli più limpidi
Ora tu cosa immagini
Se ti dico vorrei farti volare fra gli alberi
In mezzo ai fiori bellissimi
Per poter essere liberi
Come colibrì
Seguivi un colibrì
E ti ha portato dalla giungla a una metropoli
You know that like a sun, I would follow you
Towards clearer skies
Now what do you imagine
If I tell you I would like to make you fly among the trees
Among the beautiful flowers
In order to be free
Like hummingbirds
You were following a hummingbird
And it took you from the jungle to a metropolis
Fermo in mezzo al traffico stasera
Abbasso il finestrino per guardare su
Passa in mezzo al cielo una cometa
Va beh, so che eri tu
Colibrì (colibrì), seguivi un colibrì (colibrì)
Ti ha portato dalla giungla a una metropoli
Credimi, seguivi un colibrì
Sai, che come un fiume ti seguirei
Verso mari più limpidi
Ora tu cosa immagini
Se ti dico vorrei farti volare fra gli alberi
In mezzo ai fiori bellissimi
Per poter essere liberi, liberi
Stuck in traffic tonight
I roll down the window to look up
A comet flies by in the middle of the sky Okay, I know it was you
Hummingbird (hummingbird), you followed a hummingbird (hummingbird)
It took you from the jungle to a metropolis
Believe me, you were following a hummingbird
You know, that like a river I would follow you
Towards clearer seas
Now what do you imagine
If I tell you I would like to make you fly among the trees
Among the beautiful flowers
In order to be free, free
Prendi le mie mani nel buio
Portami lontano dove sai tu
Quando ho immaginato il futuro
C’eri tu
(Vedrai un’altra città)
Correre davanti a te
(E sarai confusa ma)
Sembrerà tutto possibile
Sembri nata per sorridere
Lo sai che anch’io vorrei volare fra gli alberi
In mezzo ai fiori bellissimi
Come un colibrì (colibrì)
Colibrì
Seguivi un colibrì
(Poter essere liberi)
Colibrì (colibrì)
Colibrì (colibrì)
Colibrì (colibrì)
Colibrì (colibrì)
Liberi
Colibrì (colibrì)
Colibrì (colibrì)
Colibrì (colibrì)
Take my hands in the dark
Take me far away where you know
When I imagined the future
You were there
(You’ll see another city)
Running ahead of you
(And you’ll be confused but)
Everything will seem possible
You seem born to smile
You know that I too would like to fly among the trees
Among the beautiful flowers
Like a hummingbird (hummingbird) Hummingbird
You were following a hummingbird
(To be free)
Hummingbird (hummingbird) Hummingbird (hummingbird) Hummingbird (hummingbird) Hummingbird (hummingbird)
Free
Hummingbird (hummingbird) Hummingbird (hummingbird) Hummingbird (hummingbird)
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
