Il tempo di un Caffe' - Thoughts on Italian Words

Ferro, Italian for Iron

Piombo (Lead)

From Latin plumbum, that’s why the chemical symbol for lead is Pb!

The Romans built their water pipes out of lead, so a worker who handled lead was called a plumbarius. The word traveled through French into English, and over time it came to mean the person who fixes pipes, even though pipes aren’t made of lead anymore!

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when we think about piombo, lead? We think of something heavy, something that falls toward the ground because, you know, gravity…

Because lead is so heavy, we have words like piombare (to plunge, to drop). The verb gives the idea of something falling very fast toward the ground.

Mio babbo non ha visto lo scalino ed è piombato per terra.
My dad didn’t see the step and crashed to the ground.

But also:

Quando mi ha detto che aveva un regalo per me, sono piombata a casa sua!
When he told me he had a gift for me, I rushed over to his house!
Meaning I landed there like a weight.

Dopo la notizia, sono piombata nella disperazione.
After I got the news, I sank into despair.

Cadere di piombo (“to fall like lead”): To fall heavily and suddenly, all at once, straight down. English equivalent: “to drop like a stone.”

Still thinking about lead’s heaviness, we have the following expressions:

A piombo (plumb, vertical): Perfectly vertical, like a plumb line, perpendicular to the ground.
A strapiombo (overhanging, sheer): Even steeper, a sheer drop that can lean out past vertical.
Le rocce a piombo sul mare / Le rocce a strapiombo sul mare
The cliffs dropping sheer into the sea.

(Andare) con i piedi di piombo (“to go with lead feet”): To proceed with great caution and prudence, weighing every decision so as not to make a mistake.
Alessio mi piace molto, ma viste le mie esperienze passate, ho deciso di andarci con i piedi di piombo.
I really like Alessio, but given my past experiences, I’ve decided to take it very slow.

Sonno di piombo (“sleep of lead”): A very deep, heavy sleep that’s hard to wake up from. English equivalent: “to sleep like a log.”
Ma non hai sentito il temporale stanotte? Madonna, hai un sonno di piombo!
You didn’t hear the storm last night? Wow, you sleep like a log!

Avere le gambe (o le braccia) di piombo (“to have legs, or arms, of lead”): To feel your limbs are extremely heavy and tired, often from exhaustion or emotion. English also says “my legs feel like lead.”
Ieri sono andata in palestra e oggi ho le gambe e le braccia di piombo.
Yesterday I went to the gym, and today my arms and legs feel like lead.

Cielo di piombo (“leaden sky”): An overcast, dark gray, threatening sky that signals rain or bad weather. English uses the same image: “a leaden sky.”
Oggi c’è un cielo di piombo, meglio prendere l’ombrello.
The sky is leaden today, better take an umbrella.

The word argento comes from the Latin argentum, which in turn goes back to the ancient Greek argyros (ἄργυρος), and  (ἀργός), meaning "shining white" or “bright."

Avere l'argento vivo addosso (literally "to have quicksilver on you”) To be extremely lively and restless, unable to sit still. Often said of children full of energy. 

English equivalent: "to have ants in your pants.”

Argento vivo ("living silver," or quicksilver) is an old name for mercury, a liquid metal that is constantly moving and breaks into tiny beads at the slightest touch.

Servire su un piatto d'argento ("to serve on a silver platter”)

To give or hand something to someone very easily, ready to be taken, without them having to make any effort to get it.

 English uses the same image: "to hand something to someone on a silver platter.” It recalls lavish banquets where the finest dishes were brought to guests on precious silver trays.

Capelli d'argento ("silver hair"). White or graying hair, typical of old age.

Mia nonna, con i suoi capelli d'argento, era la più elegante della festa. (My grandmother, with her silver hair, was the most elegant woman at the party.)

Nozze d'argento ("silver wedding"). The 25th wedding anniversary. English: "silver wedding anniversary."

Argenteria: the ‘silver stuff’, which is SILVERWARE!

From the noun ARGENTO 3 different adjectives are derived. 

ARGENTATO, ARGENTEO AND ARGENTINO.

The adjective ARGENTATO belongs to an everyday register and it means of silver color or made of silver:

capelli argentati (silver hair)

vassoio argentato (silver tray)

ARGENTEO, literally SILVERY, belongs to a more literary and elegant register, but I use it quite a bit…but, you know, I’m posh like that. 

ARGENTINO, on the other hand, is used for clear, ringing sounds, like the chime of silver: a silvery laugh, a silvery voice.

And here's a fun fact: argentino also means "Argentine." That's no coincidence! The country's name comes straight from the Latin argentum. The first European explorers hoped to find great riches in silver in those lands, which is why the region's great river was named the Río de la Plata, "river of silver" (plata means silver in Spanish). So Argentina is, literally, "the land of silver."

From Latin aurum, through the later form orum. Its ancient roots are associated with burning, glowing and shining, and have also been connected to the light of dawn.

That brings us to aurora, meaning dawn. And yes, think about the aurora borealis!

Gold’s chemical symbol, Au, still carries the root of its Latin name, aurum.

Il mattino ha l’oro in bocca.

Literally, “the morning has gold in its mouth.” The idea is that people who get up early are more active and productive.

English: “The early bird catches the worm.”

Valere oro.

We say this about someone extremely valuable or reliable, or about particularly useful advice or information.

“Quell’uomo vale oro!”
“That man is worth his weight in gold!”

Essere un ragazzo d’oro / una ragazza d’oro.

Someone with an exceptionally good, kind or generous character.

“Sei una ragazza d’oro.”

Avere un cuore d’oro.

“To have a heart of gold.” Exactly the same in English!

Per tutto l’oro del mondo.

“For all the gold in the world.” It means you would never do something, no matter what you were offered.

English: “Not for all the money in the world.”

“Entrare in una vasca di ragni? Ma neanche per tutto l’oro del mondo!”

L’oro apre tutte le porte.

“Gold opens every door.” Money, wealth and sometimes bribery can get you access or opportunities.

English: “Money talks.”

Oro nero.

“Black gold”: oil, because of its enormous economic value.

Regola d’oro.

The “golden rule”: a fundamental or particularly important rule to follow.

Prendere per oro colato.

Literally, “to take something as pure gold.” It means accepting something as absolutely true without questioning it.

English: “To take something as gospel.”

The expression comes from the idea of purified gold, refined and separated from its impurities.

Sogni d’oro.

Literally, “golden dreams”: “Sweet dreams.”

Ironically, we can also say sogni d’oro to someone who seems distracted, half asleep or slow to realize what’s going on.

Finally, d’oro is often used for someone or something exceptionally valuable or gifted:

mani d’oro — “golden hands,” for someone extremely skilled with their hands.

cuore d’oro — “a heart of gold.”

ugola d’oro — literally “golden throat,” for someone with an extraordinary singing voice.

Talking of which, Italians used to call the legendary Mina an ugola d’oro: one of the greatest Italian singers of all time, the Tigre di Cremona, the Tiger of Cremona.

Still in our family cycle, today we have two words:
 MAMMA and PAPÀ or BABBO, which formally we call MADRE and PADRE, mother and father.

Together, we call them I GENITORI, the parents.

 From Latin genitor, from the verb gignere, meaning “to generate”, “to give life”, or “to produce”.

The word mamma, a root shared across many languages, comes from one of the first sounds an infant makes.
It also comes from Latin mamma, meaning “breast”.

From mamma, we get the word MAMMONE.
A very useful word. It describes a man, often an adult, who is very attached to his mother… let’s put it that way.

“Ha 30 anni e vive ancora con i suoi… che mammone!”
 “He’s 30 and still lives with his parents… what a mama’s boy.”

Then we have a Neapolitan proverb:
 “Ogni scarrafone è bello ’a mamma soja.”
 “Every cockroach is beautiful to its mother.”

Meaning: a mother sees her child as beautiful, no matter what.

Another expression:
 “Come mamma t’ha fatto.”
 Literally, “as your mom made you”,
 in other words: naked.

Second word of the day: PAPÀ.
Like mamma, it comes from early infant sounds. The word spread through French papa and gradually replaced the more traditional Italian BABBO in many regions.

Watch out: don’t confuse PAPÀ with PAPA, which means the Pope, as in Pope.

And finally, one of my favorite expressions:
 “A babbo morto.”

Literally, “when the father is dead.”
 We use it to mean paying a debt very late, or maybe never.
 Basically… when the inheritance finally comes in.

I’m going to leave you with 2 classic Italian songs with the word MAMMA.

First one is "Mamma" (also known as "Mamma son tanto felice”), a classic Italian popular song composed in 1940 and famously associated with legendary tenors like Luciano Pavarotti, who recorded a widely celebrated orchestral version arranged by Henry Mancini. I’ll try to have it play at the very end right here :)

Second one is ‘Fatti mandare dalla mamma”, where a very young Gianni Morandi is asking his loved one to find an excuse to get out of the house, such as ‘have your mom send you out to buy milk’, so we can meet. 

The word zio comes from the ancient Greek theios, meaning "uncle." It is related to the word theós, meaning "god," probably reflecting the respect traditionally shown to uncles.

Over time, this Greek word spread through Italian and gradually replaced the Latin avunculus, which originally referred to the mother's brother.

And while I was doing my research, I discovered something really interesting: the English word uncle actually comes from the Latin avunculus!

Avunculus is the diminutive of avus, meaning "grandfather." So it literally means "little grandfather."

Besides its literal meaning, zio and zia are also used in Italian slang to refer to a friend, much like saying "bro" in English.

So if you bump into a friend on the street, you might hear:

"Bella, zì!"

It's basically the equivalent of saying, "What's up, bro?"

This informal greeting originated in the suburbs of Milan before spreading to the rest of Italy.

But we also have a couple of fun expressions.

Fare lo zio d'America literally means "to play the American uncle."

It describes someone who shows up with expensive gifts or flashes their wealth, inspired by the almost mythical figure of the relative who emigrated to America, made a fortune, and came back home rich.

Then there's zio acquisito, literally "acquired uncle."

We use it for someone who isn't your blood relative, like your aunt's husband, but more broadly it can refer to someone who has become such a close part of the family that everyone simply considers them an uncle.

FRATELLO, the Italian word for brother.

It comes from Late Latin fratellus, a diminutive of frater. It is related to the Sanskrit bhrātar, which in turn comes from the Indo European root bher-, meaning "to carry", "to support", or "to nourish."

So, etymologically speaking, a fratello is someone who supports us, nourishes us, and walks through life with us. I mean, wow. 

Fratellone means big brother, thanks to the suffix -one, which we can add to almost any noun to make it bigger or more emphatic.

Fratellino means little brother, thanks to the suffix -ino, one of the most common diminutive endings in Italian.

Then we have fratellastro, meaning stepbrother.

This word opens an interesting window into Italian. Historically, the suffix -astro often gave words a negative or less favorable nuance. Today, however, fratellastro is simply the normal word for stepbrother, and most people don't think of it as insulting.

Fratelli d'Italia, the Italian national anthem.

Just like in English, we also use fratello for people who aren't actually our brothers, just like saying "bro."

You'll hear expressions like:

"Ciao, frà!"
"Ciao, fratè!"

Or, in parts of Umbria, even frego.

SORELLA comes from the Latin soror, with the diminutive ending -ella, created by analogy with fratello.

Just like fratello, we also have:

Sorellina – little sister

Sorellona – big sister

Sorellastra – stepsister

And it's worth noticing that sorella shares the same root as the English word sorority, for obvious reasons.

The Italian word for son is FIGLIO, and for daughter is FIGLIA. These come from the Latin filius, which in turn comes from an even older root dhē-i-, meaning “to breastfeed” or “to suck milk.”
It’s the same root behind the word femina, “woman,” originally meaning “the one who breastfeeds” (which you can recognize in English words like female and feminine).

So a figlio is, quite literally, someone who lives off milk. Pretty straightforward, right?

But let’s look at some Italian expressions using figlio and figlia. I’ll use both masculine and feminine forms.

Figlio di papà — literally, “dad’s son.”
We use this to describe someone who’s spoiled and comes from a wealthy family.
“Guardalo, con la macchina nuova! È proprio un figlio di papà.”
“Look at him with his new car—he’s such a daddy’s boy.”

Figlio d’arte — “son of art.”
Whose art? The parents’.
We use it when someone follows in their parents’ professional footsteps. It can also be used ironically for kids who imitate their parents… but aren’t very good at it.

Figlio della serva — “the servant’s son.”
This reminds me of my mom. She says all the time:
“E chi sono io? La figlia della serva?”
Usually when we forget to offer her food or drinks, or she feels left out. Of course—it’s ironic.
“Everyone got a glass of wine except me? Who am I, the servant’s daughter?”

Figli dei fiori — “flower children.”
That’s what we call the hippie generation of ’68. Pretty self-explanatory. We also use it jokingly for someone who’s a bit naïve.

Auguri e figli maschi! — “Best wishes, and may you have sons!”
This is… patriarchy, distilled (in the purest form). It was traditionally said to newlyweds, wishing them male children who could carry on the family name and contribute economically. It reflects a much more rural, traditional society.

Il figlio prodigo — “the prodigal son.”
You probably know this from the Bible: the son who wastes everything, leaves, and then returns to be forgiven—a symbol of unconditional parental love.

I figli so’ piezz’e core — Neapolitan dialect.
In standard Italian: I figli sono pezzi di cuore.
“Children are pieces of your heart.”

Tale padre, tale figlio. Tale madre, tale figlia.
“Like father, like son. Like mother, like daughter.”
“Mio figlio ha perso di nuovo le chiavi di casa! Tale padre, tale figlio.”

And I want to end with a more literary reference from one of the most famous Italian poems by Ugo Foscolo, A Zacinto (one of those poems you study forever).

In the closing lines, Foscolo speaks about the pain of exile. He says that his homeland will only have one thing left of him: his canto, his song

Tu non altro che il canto avrai del figlio,
 o materna mia terra

a noi prescrisse il fato 

illacrimata sepoltura. 

You will have nothing of your son but his song, motherland of mine: and our fate already written, the unmourned grave.

LUNA

From Latin LUNA (L U N A), la luna can be CALANTE (waning) or CRESCENTE (waxing), MEZZA (half moon), PIENA (full) or a SPICCHIO DI LUNA (crescent moon).

We have the CHIARO DI LUNA, moonlight. You might have heard it in a bunch of classical music pieces, by Chopin, Beethoven, etc.

LUNA DI MIELE
 Honeymoon

“Allora, dove andate in luna di miele? Maldive o Spagna?”
 “So, where are you going on your honeymoon? The Maldives or Spain?”

ABBAIARE ALLA LUNA
 To bark at the moon, to complain or freak out unnecessarily, especially when it’s directed at someone who doesn’t care or is completely indifferent.

ESSERE LUNATICI
 To be moody, to have mood swings. This makes sense because your mood changes as much as the moon does, and because, for those who believe it, the moon actually affects our moods.

“Lo so, prima stavo piangendo ed ora rido: lo sapevi che ero lunatica!”
 “I know, I was crying before and now I’m laughing: you knew I was moody!”

AVERCI A CHE FARE COME LA LUNA COI GRANCHI
 To be as relevant as the moon is to crabs, to have absolutely nothing to do with something.

FAR VEDERE LA LUNA NEL POZZO
 To show someone the moon in a well. To make people believe crazy, implausible things, like believing the moon is actually at the bottom of a well instead of just being reflected in it.

“Ah, sì? E poi ti ha detto che ha uno yacht, un jet privato e una casa su Central Park? Secondo me ti ha fatto vedere la luna nel pozzo!”
 “Oh really? And then he told you he has a yacht, a private jet and a penthouse overlooking Central Park? I think he’s making you believe some pretty crazy things!”

DESIDERARE / VOLERE LA LUNA
 To desire, to want the moon, to want something impossible.

“Lavorare poco, da casa e guadagnare tanto? E allora dillo che vuoi la luna!!”
 “Work very little, from home, and make big bucks? Just say you want the moon!!”

AVERE LA LUNA STORTA
 To have the moon sideways, to be in a bad mood.

“Non parlare a Giulio oggi: ha la luna storta!”
 “Don’t talk to Giulio today, he’s in a horrible mood!”

SOLE

From Latin sol, solis, il Sole (S-O-L-E), nasce (is born, rises) / spunta (emerges) / tramonta (sets) / scende (goes down).

PRENDERE IL SOLE — To take the sun, to sunbathe

“Mi piace prendere il sole in terrazza!” — “I like sunbathing on my balcony!”

ANDARE A VEDERE IL SOLE A SCACCHI — To go look at a ‘checkered’ sun, meaning to go to jail. That’s how you see the sun through the bars of a prison window.

“Ehh Mario… Mario è andato a vedere il sole a scacchi” — “Mario went to jail… to look at a checkered sun”

AVERE QUALCOSA AL SOLE — To have something under the sun, to own property, land or possessions.

DOVE NON BATTE IL SOLE — Where the sun can’t reach (the butt!)

“Mi sono fatta un tatuaggio!” “Ah sì? Dove?” “Ehhh, dove non batte il sole”

BELLO COME IL SOLE — As beautiful as the sun, meaning extremely beautiful, radiant.

“Mamma mia, sei bello come il sole!” — “God, you’re as beautiful as the sun!”

COLPO DI SOLE — Hair highlights, but also SUNSTROKE!!

“Guarda! Mi sono fatta i colpi di sole! Ti piacciono?” — “Look! I got highlights! Do you like them?”

FARSI BELLO COL SOLE DI LUGLIO — To act beautiful with a July sun, to brag about merits that are actually not yours, to take credit for something you didn’t do.

NIENTE DI NUOVO SOTTO IL SOLE — Nothing new under the sun, no news.

“Allora… hai novità sul lavoro?” “No, per ora niente di nuovo sotto il sole”

“So… do you have any news about the job?” “Nothing new under the sun so far.”

SOLE CHE SPACCA LE PIETRE — Sun that splits the stones, a blazing hot sun.

“Daiii, andiamo al mare!! C’è un sole che spacca le pietre!!” — “Come on, let’s go to the beach! The sun is blazing! / It’s hot enough to fry an egg!”

VENDERE IL SOLE DI LUGLIO — To sell the July sun, to sell something that is not needed, to make something that is common and abundant appear to be rare or precious.

“Non ti fidare di Anna: lei venderebbe il sole di luglio!” — “Don’t trust Anna: she’d sell you the July sun if she could!”