Browsing through a magazine a few days ago I came across an article about a recent survey which set out to discover the best known Italian words throughout the 27 countries of the Unione Europea. Although the article itself was rather trivial it did remind me of something quite important: the existence of La Società Dante Alighieri, the organization which undertook the survey.
The Dante Alighieri Society was created in 1898 by a group of intellectuals under the guidance of the Italian poet Giosuè Carducci. According to their constitution the main purpose of the society is to: ‘tutelare e diffondere la lingua e la cultura italiana nel mondo, tenendo ovunque alto il sentimento di italianità, ravvivando i legami spirituali dei connazionali all’estero con la madre patria e alimentando tra gli stranieri l’amore e il culto per la civiltà italiana’ (‘protect and spread Italian language and culture throughout the world, universally upholding the feeling of ‘being Italian’, reviving the spiritual ties between our fellow countrymen abroad and the motherland, and promoting amongst foreigners a love and admiration of the Italian civilization’).
The founders named the association after Dante Alighieri because it was in his works of literature that the Italian language first took shape, eventually giving form to the official language chosen six centuries later when Italy came into being as a unified nation.
Although the activities of the association take place both in Italy and all’estero (abroad) it is for its work in the latter area that the Società Dante Alighieri is best known. In fact one of the first important actions which they undertook was the development of Italian language courses for Italian emigrants who had moved abroad to find work.
If you would like to discover more about the Società Dante Alighieri here is a link to their website: Società Dante Alighieri
Parla come Mangi (Speak like you eat)
As for the survey, well the question posed by the society on their website was: Quali sono fra queste 100, le dieci parole Italiane entrate nella vostra lingua che considerate più importanti storicamente e culturalmente? (Which, out of these 100 Italian words absorbed into your language, do you consider to be the most important from a historical and cultural point of view?)
Here are the top 10 words chosen by roughly 10,000 voters:
Pizza
Cappuccino
Spaghetti
Espresso
Mozzarella
Tiramisù
Bravo
Allegro
Lasagne
Risotto
The results are fairly predictable but perhaps a little depressing when you consider what is missing from the top 10 words in the list, e.g. pianoforte, opera, influenza, terracotta, virtuoso, malaria ………all of which seem to me very common cultural and historical words. How come for example that mozzarella is at number 5 in the list and influenza is only at number 56? Well I can only assume that the rest of Europe is just as obsessed with their stomachs as is the average Italian!
Which Italian words would you have put at the top of your list? Please feel free to post a comment.
