Spazzatura

spazzatura
sweepings, trash, refuse

At one of my first formal Italian classes, I entered the room with an empty paper coffee cup in hand.

“Spazzatura?” the amiable young teacher asked.

“Sì,” I responded, certain that I wanted whatever this spray of sibilant syllables offered. Then I tracked her outstretched arm as she pointed to the waste basket in the corner.

“Trash,” she said in English.

“Such a lovely word for such an ugly thing!” I exclaimed.

“Bella, sì,” she replied. “Anche molto vecchia.” (Also very old.)

How old? Like many of the words in Italian’s linguistic base---its 10,000 most-used words—spazzare (to sweep) dates back to the fourteenth century, when it appeared in the writings of Italian’s first great narrative stylist, Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375). With such a literary pedigree, it's not surprising that trash sounds beautiful in Italian—especially when you’re sweeping it with a rustic handmade twig broom like this one I photographed at a Tuscan villa.

Over the centuries spazzatura sprouted offshoots such as spazzatina, (dusting), spazzola (brush) and spazzolaio (brushmaker). More recent derivatives include spazzamine (mine-sweeper), spazzaneve (snow plough) and my favorite, spazzolino da denti, a toothbrush. But although the word remains the same, spazzatura has taken on forms unimaginable seven centuries ago.

Months ago, when Naples ran out of places to dump or incinerate its garbage, trash piled up in huge, stinking mounds. On the Italian television news, alarmed citizens protested. Health officials sounded warnings. Politicians ranted in outrage. I couldn’t understand much of what the native Neapolitans were saying in their lilting dialect, but one familiar word echoed through every news report: spazzatura.

This medieval word actually inspired a catchy contemporary song, “La Spazzatura,” by Marco Saltatempo. Could lyrics like “Throw out the trash, the trash stinks” (“Butta la spazzatura, puzza la spazzatura”) sound so appealing in any other language?



Sayings and Expressions

“Amore mio, puoi portare fuori la spazzatura?” -- “My love, can you take out the garbage?” (one of the most useful questions I ever learned from a language website)
TV spazzatura – trash TV (used to describe gross reality shows and similar programs)
spazzacamino – chimney sweep
spazzavento – a windswept spot
spazzola da panni – clothes brush
spazzolarsi capelli – to brush one’s hair

albergo

albergo

hotel

As we were tooling around Lago Maggiore many years ago, my husband asked me, “Who is this guy Albergo and why is his name on so many buildings?” I gently explained that “albergo” means hotel.

Derived from the Germanic haribergo for a military barracks, albergo dates back to the Dark Ages, when barbarian hordes swept over the Italian peninsula. The Romans, who described their orderly style of warfare as bellum, couldn’t withstand the disorderly tactics of the Germans, whose werra (war) became the Italian guerra and the root of the English “guerilla.”

Other Teutonic imports to the Italian language include scherzare (to joke), ricco (rich) and russare (to snore). Some words reflect the miseries the barbarians inflicted-- gramo for wretched, scherno for scorn, smacco for shame. Others reveal contempt for the occupying forces. Italian uses zanna, from the German for tooth, only for an animal’s fang or tusk and stalla, German for house, for a horse stall or a pigsty.

Over the centuries Italian evolved as a sort of linguistic hotel, accommodating guests from many languages. The Spaniards, who presided over the Kingdom of Naples, contributed courtly words such as complimento (compliment), baciamano (handkiss) and parata (parade). French added stylish touches such as moda (fashion) and cravatta (tie) and changed the meaning of parrucca, which had meant one’s natural hair in Italian, to wig (a "big wig" is a parruccone). A friend taught me a Russian import when she accused me of being a stachanovista (workaholic), from Stachanov, a Russian miner who introduced new techniques to increase productivity.

Today foreign words make up an estimated 10 percent of the Italian vocabulary. In the linguistic albergo italiano, English occupies the presidential suite. Several thousand terms have settled into mainstream Italian, including computer, software, best-seller, killer, manager, cowboy, popcorn, massmedia (one word), playboy, coffee break, stress, babysitter, flirt and weekend.

Some English words have simply acquired Italian endings: chat became chattare; blog, bloggare; and skype, skypare. However, others have taken on a uniquely Italian spin. In Italian a “golf” refers to a pullover; a “mister,” to a coach of a soccer team; a “smoking,” to a tuxedo; a “spot,” to a commercial; and a “fiction,” to a film for TV. From American politics Italian journalists took “ticket” for a party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates and created “tricket” for three contenders in an election.

Sayings and Expressions

albergo per famiglie – residential hotel
alberghi per la gioventù – youth hostels (ostelli della gioventù)
albergo a ore – cheap motel (literally a hotel by the hours) where lovers rent rooms for a tryst
albergo a gestione familiare – a family-run hotel, a bed-and-breakfast
“Questa casa non è un albergo!” – “This house is not a hotel!” a common complaint of mother whose children are constantly coming and going