Italian language insight of the day/week/month/year...
What you hear in English: pregnant. It doesn't break down any more than that.
What you hear in Italian: incinta. It breaks into two words, in, which means what it looks like, and cinta. The latter derives from a Latin root that gives the Italian words "belt", "enclosure", "encircling", and my personal favorite, "putting one's arms around someone".
Just another reason to learn the world's most beautiful language. …I'm talking about Latin, of course.
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2 comments:
pregnant = pre natus?
Shingles (a very painful condition) <--- cingulum, belt, because that is what the welts look like?
My favorite, I used it today with a 15 month old: a booboo <---- bubo ----> bubonic plague.
And the very topical: candidate from candida datus = the Chalked One or even the White One.
Latin IS a beautiful language. It's especially good for giving orders in (see "Life of Brian")
As a matter of fact, booboo is also a Russian word for exactly the same thing, only the stress is on the second syllable rather than the first.—At least, my wife uses it with our daughter, and what better expert do I have on the Russian language than she?
Romanes eunt domus! or something like that. Hilarious.
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