From a people of “inventors, poets and navigators” to homeland of gastronomy and its specialties.
Society evolves. And, at the same time, language too. Thus, the best-known Italian word in the world, today, it is without a doubt “pizza".
It is accompanied, however, by other culinary terms at the top of the ranking, such as “cappuccino" or "spaghetti".
World cuisine speaks Italian
The growth in the diffusion of Italian words related to cooking in foreign vocabularies is highlighted by the analysis of the book “L'italiano del Cibo”, published in 2015 by Bran Academy.
The study, carried out in 66 languages, showed that 70% of local terms routinely used outside Italian borders have food origin, with progressive growth over the years.
The "spaghetti”, highlights Professor Lorenzo Coveri, an academic at Crusca, is thus present in 54 of the vocabularies analyzed and the “cappuccino" in 40
A fact confirmed by European research carried out by Dante Alighieri Society, reported in 2017 in an article by the Venice language school “Easy Italian Language”.
Together with the three “words-food” already mentioned, “espresso” is also at the top.
And, right behind, are “mozzarella" it's the "Tiramisu”, the latter of origin Veneto-Friuli.
Only then does the context change, moving to the music with "Bravo"and "allegro".
The evolution is particularly evident in English, with those who know the meaning of “pizza” and “spaghetti” outpacing those who know what “villa” or “ballet” means.
“We complain a lot about the invasion of foreign words, but it is interesting to note how our language also gives and has given many terms to the world over the centuries“, comments Coveri.
A language that many like
“This is a time when there is strong sympathy for Italians in all sectors. Think, for example, of the music. The fact that Maneskin sing in Italian and not in English while doing rock It is an interesting phenomenon for the Italian presence in the world”, observes Coveri.
The result of the study, reported by Easy Italian Language, should also be read in this sense, from which a curious confirmation emerges: there are people, like the Japanese, that they appropriate Italian words, sometimes just for their musicality.
Sounding Italian
The facets, however, in linguistic relations are extremely varied. To the Italian excellences recognized worldwide, and here we return first and foremost to cuisine, condition, for example, the creation of neologisms reminiscent of the Italian language.
Without going into the phenomenon of unfair commercial competition, which “sells” foreign cheeses as Italian only in appearance, similar to Italian PDO products, such as parmesan, for example.
The return of Italianism
The phenomenon of return of Italianism is also private. In other words, those terms that originate in Italian, claim to have been modified abroad and then return to our language as apparent “steals” from a foreign language.
Still in the food sector, “baguette" or "slipper” are examples.
From words to style. And vice versa
“An interesting case is that of Starbucks, the well-known chain that incorporates the Italian style of coffee: if we take the menu we see that there are many Italianisms that Starbucks has indicated as registered trademarks, such as latte macchiato or the quantities of the cups as “large”. In New York, for example, I happened to see the label with the word “barista“on the shirts of the boys serving at the counter”, – says Professor Coveri.
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