English Words of Venetian Origin
Venetian source | English loanword | Notes |
---|---|---|
arsenàl | arsenal | via Italian; from Arabic dār aṣ-ṣināʿah 'house of work/skills, factory' |
artichioco | artichoke | from Arabic al-haršūf |
balota | ballot | 'ball' used in Venetian elections |
casin | casino | borrowed in Italianized form |
sc'iao | ciao | used originally in Venetian to mean 'your servant', 'at your service' |
contrabando | contraband | |
gazeta | gazette | 'small Venetian coin'; from the phrase gazeta de la novità 'a penny worth of news' |
g(h)eto | ghetto | |
ziro | giro | 'circle, turn, spin'; borrowed in Italianized form; from the name of the bank Banco del Ziro |
gnoco, -chi | gnocchi | 'lump, bump, gnocchi'; from Germanic *knokk- 'knuckle, joint' |
gondola | gondola | |
laguna | lagoon | |
lazareto | Lazaretto, lazaret | |
Lido | lido | |
lo(t)to | lotto | from Germanic *lot- 'destiny, fate' |
malvasia | malmsey | |
marzapan | marzipan | from Arabic martabān, the name for the porcelain container in which marzipan was transported, from Mataban in the Bay of Bengal where these were made (this is one of several proposed etymologies for the English word) |
negroponte | Negroponte | Greek Island called Eubea or Evia in the Aegean Sea |
Montenegro | Montenegro | 'black mountain' Country on the Eastern side of the Adriatic Sea |
Pantalon | pantaloon | a character in the Commedia dell'arte |
pestacio/pistacio | pistachio | ultimately from Middle Persian *pistak |
quarantena | quarantine | |
regata | regatta | originally 'fight, contest' |
scampo, -i | scampi | from Greek κάμπη 'caterpillar', lit. 'curved (animal)' |
zechin | sequin | 'Venetian gold ducat'; from Arabic sikkah 'coin, minting die' |
Zanni | zany | a character in the Commedia dell'arte |
zero | zero | via French zéro; ultimately from Arabic ṣifr 'zero, nothing' |
Read more about this topic: Venetian Language
Famous quotes containing the words english, words, venetian and/or origin:
“Chaucers remarkably trustful and affectionate character appears in his familiar, yet innocent and reverent, manner of speaking of his God. He comes into his thought without any false reverence, and with no more parade than the zephyr to his ear.... There is less love and simple, practical trust in Shakespeare and Milton. How rarely in our English tongue do we find expressed any affection for God! Herbert almost alone expresses it, Ah, my dear God!”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“Webster never goes behind government, and so cannot speak with authority about it. His words are wisdom to those legislators who contemplate no essential reform in the existing government; but for thinkers, and those who legislate for all time, he never once glances at the subject.... Comparatively, he is always strong, original, and, above all, practical. Still, his quality is not wisdom, but prudence.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“I was happy there,
part Venetian vase,
part Swiss watch, part Indian head.”
—Anne Sexton (19281974)
“In the woods in a winter afternoon one will see as readily the origin of the stained glass window, with which Gothic cathedrals are adorned, in the colors of the western sky seen through the bare and crossing branches of the forest.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)