Italian Dictionary
An Italian dictionary isn’t a dictionary that will contain only terms such as Spaghetti and Italian sausage. It’s a dictionary useful to translate from many languages to and from Italian.
Some websites have an Italian dictionary which includes Italian words and then their English translations. The Italian language has 5 fewer letters than the English language. Italian words won’t include those letters.
Here’s some words from the Italian dictionary. Under a there is abate, meaning an abbot. This isn’t one half of a comedy team but rather the head of a monastery. This name is used in many religious traditions including Christianity. Sometimes someone who lives in a monastery has this title.
Another word in the Italian dictionary is antarctico. The English translation is Antarctic. It’s the continent furthest south. It lies over the South Pole. The word comes from the Greek meaning opposite to the north. That’s interesting.
In 1959 12 nations ratified an Antarctic treaty. 46 countries currently adhere to it. The treaty forbids mining or military action in the Antarctic. The purpose of the treaty is to support scientific research and to protect the ecology of the area. Currently more than 4000 scientists conduct research there. Such information would be found in an Encyclopedia rather than an Italian dictionary.
Mafia isn’t a word in the Italian dictionary. But the word malavita is. That’s the underworld. Cosa Nostra is another name for the Italian Mafia. It’s a secret society with roots in Sicily. It became prominent in the mid 1800’s. When Italians immigrated into the United States an offshoot of this organization was formed on the East Coast. Today mafia isn’t used just for Sicilians, it’s used for all Italian organized crime.
Autoritratto is found in the Italian dictionary. In English that’s self portrait. Here the root auto can be seen in its meaning is clear – own self. Thus an automobile is something that moves on its own.
A look through an Italian dictionary can be quite interesting. The reason is that Italian contains many of the same roots contained in English.
