From sauntering at the Piazza Saint Marco in Venice to wine tasting at the hill town of San Gimignano, there are perhaps thousands of fun pastime itineraries for both tourists and locals alike to indulge in Italy. The Italian culture, which revolves a whole lot around art, music, and food, all depend on its fascinating language (Italiano) as a medium to express and convey these cultural elements. But how well do we know about this expressive language?
This post attempts to illuminate readers about the many fascinating facts of this beautiful language for interest groups that seek to harness the potentials laden in this region.
A brief overview of the Italian language
Italiano origin dates back to a few thousand years ago, belonging to the Romance language family — a group of languages that stems from the now-defunct Vulgar Latin. It is one of the most-spoken languages worldwide with well over 60 million native speakers and also one of the official languages of Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, and Vatican City.
Besides being an official and co-official language for several nations, a number of international organizations such as the United Nations and NATO use the language on an official basis. It is also worth noting that another 4-5 million people speak Italian as a second or foreign language.
Fascinating facts about Italiano
- Italian exists in several forms and dialects
Besides the standard Italian, which although, originated from Florence, and has undergone some modifications to what we have today, there are many other dialects of Italian that are common in specific geographical regions in Italy. Some of the most common Italian dialects include; Tuscan, Sicilian, Neapolitan, Apulian, Sardinian, Ligurian, and Venetian. Some of these dialects are even recognized by international organizations as real languages.
- The language only has 21 alphabets
Unlike the English language that consists of 26 alphabets, Italiano has only 21 alphabets consisting of 5 vowels and 16 consonants. Although, five additional consonants which were not originally in its vocabulary were also imported from other foreign languages.
Visually, the Italian alphabets bear striking similarities to their English counterparts, but in reality, there are significant disparities in the way they sound.
- Italiano was shaped by a Poet
Dante Alighieri. Does that name ring a bell?
If it does, it is because that was the author of the famous poem’ The Divine Comedy (Divinia Commedia). Dante’s form of writing and language, which took after the Tuscan dialect of Florence, the city where he was born, gained widespread readership across Italy and thus ushered in a significant level of mass adoption. Today, Dante Alighieri is often called the Father of the Italian language.
- The official language of music
Although just a street saying, Italiano is often referred to as the language that sings by some, or the language of music by others. And this is due to the influence many Italians have exerted on classical music. Today, many musical terms, notations, and instruments have Italian origins.
Some also say that the language sounds similar to a singing person since most Italian words end with a vowel.
Fun Fact: Did you know that the word Piano comes from the Italian word Pianoforte?
- Influences on other languages
Like with many other languages we have touched on in the past, Italian has also left its mark on many of the world’s languages, with English being a prime example. Words like influenza, casino, final, spaghetti, magenta, etc., all originate from Italian diction.
And the reverse is also the case. Several loan words from foreign languages have also made their way into the Italian vocabulary.
- America came from Italiano
The name America does not come from its founding fathers or even the natives as one might speculate. Interestingly, the name’ America, came from the Latin version of Amerigo (full name: Amerigo Vespucci), an explorer from Florence, Italy. He was the initial person to recognize that both North and South America were two distinct continents.
- The language also contains untranslatables
Words without a direct translation are becoming more prominent in several languages, and Italiano is no different. Words like; Mamma mia, Baffona, Pantofolaio, and many others, all have no equivalent translation to other languages, especially the English language.
There you have it! Italiano originates from a civilization that greatly influenced the modern era, from art to science and even the global cuisine. But most importantly, it is a language infused with the local culture, making it require careful navigation for foreign entities who seek to dominate in the region.
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