English is a famously flexible language, eager to assimilate or adapt words from other languages. As there is no prescriptive institution regulating which words should be added to the English vocabulary, the process through which it enlarges itself has no rules other than the will of the people.
invasions
As you have seen in Speak Up, English has incorporated words not only from the various civilisations that have invaded the British Isles —the Saxons, the Celts, the Romans, the Normans and the Vikings—, but also from the countries it has colonised, militarily or culturally.
lingua franca
While English remains the lingua franca of the world, however, there are some specific concepts from other languages that English-speakers just cannot express with one word.
no words
Every Italian learner has had the experience of searching for a specific word in English to indicate a concept or a feeling ... and found none available. This might not be due to the limited vocabulary of the speaker, but to an absence of the actual word in English.
explanation needed
Some so-called loanwords have entered and been adapted for English and are now of common usage; words like ‘pasta’, ‘opera’ or ‘studio’. However, some words for concepts, feelings or customs simply don’t exist, and require some explanation in English to be fully understood. We have selected five of them. Can you think of any more?
1. Mammone
Coming from mamma —it refers to a “mummy’s boy”. It’s used to describe adult men who live with their parents, still a common phenomenon in Italy, but not so popular in the English-speaking world, where emancipation comes earlier and there’s no such attachment to one’s mum.
2. Apericena
This neologism is a portmanteau word formed by aperitivo (‘appetiser’) and cena (‘dinner’) that indicates a recent Italian trend: a pre-dinner drink with snacks which becomes a light dinner. Tourists are always delighted by the huge buffets, where you can fill your plate repeatedly with different types of pastas, salads, fried food, and sometimes more elaborate dishes. In the most touristic cities especially, you can eat and drink for a fair price with this formula.
3. Abbiocco
It is related to the previous subject – food. Do you recognise that drowsiness that overcomes you after a heavy meal? The solution is easy: take a nap and get ready for the next big meal.
4. Magone
It is difficult to explain, but everyone feels it at one time or another. It is a feeling of sorrow or distress, which can be identified physically as a weight on your stomach. You feel it when you are stressed or worried about someone or something.
5. Gattara
Used in a derogatory sense, this expression refers to a single, elderly woman, considered a bit crazy, who feeds stray cats or lives surrounded by them, as if they were her children. In English, you can translate it as ‘cat lady’.