We Are All Related.

Not only are we related to other people, we are also related to all other known life on the planet.

Max Clarke photograph

If you are ever at a party and some bright person says, “I am related to Janis Joplin, hold up your hand and respond cheerfully, “I am too!

You are, you know, and more closely related to her than you might think.           Photo:   Max Clarke

I read this the other day:    Every American president is in some way related to our nation’s preeminent Founding Father George Washington.

Of course this is true.  This is one of those statements that masks the fact that we are ALL related to every American president, to George Washington and to each other. If we wanted to be serious about it (but no one, and I mean no one, wants to look at it this way) people that feature in videos on sites like www.dosexvideo.com read more into other adult sites also, are technically committing incest? No matter how many generations apart.

It’s just a matter of numbers.

I have written elsewhere, and it only seems to be common sense, to realize that we are all incredible winners just to be here.

Think about it.  You are the result of millions of couplings, all of them successful.                           Photo: Max Clarke

Your ancestors lived long enough to procreate, and I am talking about all of your ancestors going all the way back to something like 3.5 billion years ago.

You are the happy result of a long, long chain of lucky chances, felicitous opportunities, good weather, excellent timing, timing down to the second, timing down to the split second.

You have two parents.

And each parent has two parents.

So you have four grandparents and eight great grandparents.

You can see that it doesn’t take a long climb up the family tree for you to be connected to a large number of people.

We’re only talking about parents here. Not uncles, aunts, cousins and other collateral relatives.

I have written about Samuel David Andrew, a man who fought in the Civil War, and who lost an arm at the battle of the Wilderness, one of the many Sam Andrews in our family going back for hundreds of years.

Just tracing my lineage back back to Samuel David Andrew means I have to keep track of 250 people, parents, grandparents, great grandparents straight back in a line to him, and he only lived a hundred years ago.

Two hundred and fifty mothers and fathers and their mothers and fathers and their mothers and fathers in only eight generations back to, say, 1840.

If you trace your own lineage back to 1600, which is relatively recent, it’s the modern era, just counting your mother and father and their mothers and fathers and so on, you will find that your family tree is a bit crowded. There are now 16,384 people who are directly responsible for you.

Think of all that love, all that intrigue, all that monkey business, all of those human relations, all that human intercourse.   Photo: Max Clarke

Let’s see, half of 16,384 is 8,192.  Eight thousand, one hundred and ninety two women met 8,192 men since 1600, and they carried on in such a manner as to result in you.

That’s a lot of kinfolk. And we’re only talking about four hundred years here.

In Elizabethan England, there were, in the entire country, only about three, four million people, the population of the San Francisco Bay Area now. You could be related to all of them. You ARE related to all of them.      Photo:   Max Clarke

Samuel David Andrew lived eight generations before you.

Twenty generations before you the number of people who were amorous, lecherous or whatever on your behalf reaches 1,048,576.

Photo:   Max Clarke

Each of those million plus couplings had to be successful to result in this little boy who turned out to be Jimi Hendrix.

Each of those million plus people had to be not murdered before the magic moment of procreation that resulted in you, not diseased and infertile, not smashed flat by an errant boulder, not killed in a war, each of the million plus people had to live to an age of fertility and procreate successfully.  That’s an amazing chain of good luck.

Think about the people we have seen disappear in our own lifetimes, Jimi Hendrix being one of them. Life is fragile. It’s not easy living long enough to make the next generation.

If you look on your family tree back to the time of, say, Julius Caesar, and just count your mother and father, and all of their mothers and fathers, the number of people who have resulted in you becomes one million trillion.

You are intimately related to one million trillion people.  That’s more people than have ever lived. By far.

How is that possible?

Lots of incest.  Most of it not illegal or immoral, although there was doubtlessly much of that too.

No, when you’re related to that many people, that means that each of those people are related to that many people too, so it won’t be long before you’re engaging meaningfully with a more or less closely related person.

To put it another way, you are most likely related to the person who is your significant other. Indeed, it would be unusual if that were not the case.

To put it still another way, if you walk into, say, Yoshi’s nightclub on Fillmore and Eddy in San Francisco, take a good look around because you are related to everyone in there.

These considerations give the phrase ‘We are all one’ a whole new meaning.

There is a family in Georgia, a big family, and their name is Bembry. Some are African American and some are not.  I am related to all of them.

So are you. Probably not as closely as I am, but they’re your kin too.

If we are related to one million trillion people counting back to Caesar’s time, and after all, that is not really a long time in the general scheme of things, we are related to everyone, not only who lives now, but who has ever lived.

Saints, scoundrels, heroes, villains, holy women, hypocrites, Roundheads, Cavaliers, Guelphs, Ghibellines, Visigoths, Suebi, they’re all family.

There was an old song that had a line, ‘Duke’s son, cook’s son, son of a hundred kings.’   Just so.

In the Middle Ages, people sang, “When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?

Genetically we are 99.9 % the same.

You have probably read that we are 95% the same as chimpanzees, so, there you go, we are related to them too.

But humans?  It is thought that we all come from an original population of about 10,000 individuals.

We are extraordinarily alike.  There is more genetic variety in a large troop of baboons than there is in the entire human species.

Mitakuye Oyasin (All Are Related) is phrase in the Lakota language, which reflects the world view of interconnectedness held by the Lakota people.

The phrase translates as “all my relatives, “we are all related, or “all my relations.

Every person on earth’s most recent common ancestor might have died less than 2,000 years ago.

There simply aren’t enough ancestors for each of us NOT to be related.

It’s quite common for people to have the same great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents.

Some geneticists believe we’re all at least 50th cousins to everyone else on this planet.

Is there a single common ancestor that every person on earth shares?

In a discussion such as this there are three different ‘common ancestors’ to consider.

There is the most recent common ancestor, a random individual who happens to be the latest person who connects to everyone.

Photo:   Max Clarke

Mitochondrial DNA is a distinct subset of genetic material found not in the cell nucleus but rather in the mitochondria, the power plants of the cell.

Female egg cells completely destroy the mitochondria in the male sperm cell shortly after fertilization, leaving only the female mitochondria behind.

Thus, there is a ‘mitochondrial Eve’ who passed down her mitochondria relatively unchanged to every human alive today.

Every female alive today will continue to pass down her mitochondria indefinitely.

Mitochondrial Eve lived about 200,000 years ago.

We know this from tracking the mutations to the mitochondrial DNA and establishing which human groups are most closely related.

What about Adam?

Only men have a Y-chromosome. Fathers pass it on to their sons, which allows geneticists to trace patrilineal descent in much the same way that mitochondrial DNA allows us to trace matrilineal descent.

Genetic evidence suggests that Y-chromosomal Adam lived about 90,000 to 60,000 years ago, much more recently than mitochondrial Eve.

Whatever language we speak, whatever color of our skin, we share ancestors who were slaves in Egypt, farmers in the Yangtse delta, horsemen on the steppes, farm women in North and South America.   Photo:   Max Clarke

A substantial proportion of men in the world are direct descendants of Genghis Khan. They carry Y chromosomes which seem to have come down from an individual who lived approximately 1,000 years ago.

Genghis Khan died ~750 years ago, so assuming 25 years per generation, you get about 30 men between the present and that period. In more quantitative terms, ~10% of the men who reside within the borders of the Mongol Empire as it was at the death of Genghis Khan may carry his Y chromosome, and so ~0.5% of men in the world, about 16 million individuals alive today, do so.

By the way, I just read today that four out of ten Americans believe that we descended from Adam and Eve ten thousand years ago.

Please let that be an inaccurate poll.

Our human family is growing rapidly.

In 1800, about one billion people lived in the world.  This number had doubled by 1930, tripled by 1960, and officially reached six billion in October 1999. The world population is now over seven billion and rapidly climbing.

Because of this population explosion, everyone alive today shares recent common ancestors.

The average marriage in Europe is between sixth cousins, who share a great, great, great, great, great grandparent. However, this varies a lot from place to place, and people living in isolated communities will be more closely related.

We all share the same ancestors multiple times.

The awareness of our ancestors is limited to a few generations so we have difficulty believing that all of us in the world are connected.

The populating of the planet by our ancestors was accomplished progressively outward from a region situated between the Middle East, North Africa, and East Africa. Thus, all contemporary human beings are descended from immigrants.

It is an illusion that there are races. The diversity of human beings is so great and so complicated that it is impossible to classify seven billion individuals into discrete ‘races.’

The term race refers to a difference of origin which is non-existent for humans.

Ancient peoples stigmatized ‘others’ on the grounds of language, custom, class, and especially religion, but they did not sort people according to physical differences.

The concept of race is a recent invention, only a few hundred years old.

It is worth keeping in mind that, though we are all related, each of us is unique. Eighty billion human beings more or less have lived on Earth over the time since our common origin. With the exception of true identical twins, never have any two among them have had exactly the same genetic heritage.

The number of different possible human individuals is many times greater than the number of atoms in the universe.

And now for some really deep and close relationships.

A light photon in Cleveland will start spinning in one direction and another light photon in Melbourne will instantly begin spinning in another direction.

Photo: Max Clarke

These photons are said to be entangled.

Talk about being closely related.

Photograph:        Max Clarke

A Combination of the Two:   Entanglement of light photons

Quantum entanglement, whereby two or more objects are linked by an unseen connection can be thought of as a pair of dice that always land on the same number.

It is possible to prepare two particles in a single quantum state such that when one is observed to be spin-up, the other one will always be observed to be spin-down and vice versa.

It is, however, impossible to predict, according to quantum mechanics, which set of measurements will be observed.

Photo:    Max Clarke

Measurements performed on one system seem to be instantaneously influencing other systems entangled with it.

Quantum entanglement has applications in the emerging technologies of quantum computing and quantum cryptography, and has been used to realize quantum teleportation experimentally.

One of the most intriguing aspects of entanglement is this quantum teleportation, in which the quantum state of a particle or atom is transferred to its entangled partner, even if they are separated physically.

Such relaying of quantum information could form the backbone of long-distance quantum communication channels.

This network, however, is a long way from being realized.

A group of researchers have made headway in quantum teleportation, and thus communication. The team, led by physics graduate student Steven Olmschenk at the University of Maryland, College Park, succeeded in teleporting quantum information between ytterbium ions (charged atoms) one meter apart.

Quantum teleportation has been demonstrated across macroscopic distances (hundreds of meters) for photons, the fundamental particles of electromagnetic radiation, but ions are better candidates for quantum memory because they can store information for relatively long periods of time.

The fundamental advantage of quantum information systems is that whereas a conventional digital bit can be 0 or 1, a qubit can be in a so-called superposition of 0 and 1 simultaneously.

Normally, you have to collect particles that come from the object to image it, says Anton Zeilinger, a physicist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. “Now, for the first time, you don’t have to do that. Two photons need not be of the same energy, Zeilinger says, meaning that the light that touches the object can be of a different color than the light that is detected.

Thus, we are all entangled in ways that we have not even imagined. We are all related.

Sam Andrew         Your cousin

_______________________________________________

The Greek Language

With the fox, be a fox.

Νομω πειθου       Obey the law.

Γνωθι μαθων      Know what you have learned.     These short maxims are Delphic truths, somewhat similar to the Ten Commandments, but without the I Am The Lord Thy God And I Will Spank You quality of the Decalogue.

τί κοινότατον; Ἐλπίς. Καὶ γὰρ οἷς ἄλλο μηδέν, αὔτη παρέστη.   What is common? Hope. When all is gone, there is still Hope.

Ακουσας νοει     Perceive what you have heard.

Have you ever noticed how small Europe is when you’re looking at a globe?  Greenland is almost as large as Europe.  By the way, note that Greenland is ice, and Iceland is green.

For all the impact that it has made on human history, Europe is small compared to… well, compared to almost any other land, really.

And then look how small Greece is compared to Europe. Can you even see it?

And yet for us Greece is where it all began.

Καιρον γνωθι           Know your opportunity.

All license plate photographs courtesy of Max Clarke.

Σεαυτον αιδου       Respect yourself.

I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last.

Ατυχουντι συναχθου     Share the load of the unfortunate.

Φιλοφρονει πασιν         Deal kindly with everyone.

Ψεγε μηδενα         Find fault with no one.

Some Greek words:    Water (hydro, hydor), philosopher, Christ (the annointed one), psyche, ocean, eucharist (thanks, gratitude).

Άνθρωπος αγράμματος, ξύλο απελέκητο.     An uneducated person is like wood uncarved.

City of children

And we write those words with an alphabet that we received from the Greeks.

Φιλιαν αγαπα       Love friendship.

Periander  (son) of Kypselos Korinthios (Corinthian)

Before the alphabet was Greek, it was a series of images for the Phoenicians.

Σοφιαν ζηλου          Long for wisdom.

Later these images came to designate syllables instead of a picture of one thing. This was a major advance in human thought.

Μανθανων μη καμνε          Do not tire of learning.

Aleph was originally a picture of an ox and it meant ox. It was only later that aleph came to stand for the sound of A.

Beth or bet, originally a picture of a house, came to represent the sound of B.  B for bathing.

Υφορω μηδενα         Don’t look down on anyone.

Gimel, the third image in the Phoenician syllabary, was originally a drawing of a camel. We are reading right to left here, because, after all, this is an eastern script, but actually the people at that time wrote right to left, left to right, or they wrote each line as an ox would plow a field, right to left in one line and left to right in the next.

This way of writing is called boustrophedon, which literally means ox turning, as she would do at the end of a furrow.

D    daleth

Τεχνη χρω            Use your skill.

door     It could be a door in a tent.   D     The Greeks called it delta.

Απ’ έξω κούκλα κι από μέσα πανούκλα.       Outside doll, inside plague.  See the word for doll, κούκλα?  There was once a television program called Kukla, Fran and Ollie. Kukla came from the Greek word for doll κούκλα.

Γαμειν μελλε        Intend to get married.

Know yourself.   GNOTHI SAUTON. In Latin, Gnosce te ipsum. Notice that the S in SAUTON looks like a C.

When the Russian language adopted the Greek alphabet, this C was used for S.  My name in Russian looks like C3M. Sem. Studio 54.

The Greeks decided to visit the côte d’azur quite early in their history.

The azure coast.

Antibes was founded in the 4th century BCE  by  a colony of Phoenicians established in Marseilles.

The name Antibes was originally Antipolis, which meant opposite the city, facing the city, in Greek. Anti  opposite and Polis city.

Naples was originally nea polis, new city.  Every language has a phrase for new town. Newton. In Russian it’s Novgorod.  In Spain, Cartagena was a corruption of the Roman Carthago Nova, new Carthage, and Carthage itself meant ‘new town’ in Phoenician.

Αγαθους τιμα         Honor good men.

Grenoble was once called Gratianopolis, the city of Gratian, a Roman emperor from the fourth century of our era.

Επαινει αρετην                 Praise virtue.

Saint-Tropez was originally known as Athenopolis, city of Athena.

Ευλογει παντας            Speak well of everyone.

Palermo was once Panormos, derived from Greek pan all, everything, and ormos, meaning a port.

See that town at the top of the map above, Lamezia Terme? Big Brother and the Holding Company flew into that town recently (September 2014) to do a gig in Catanzaro, which is on the Ionian Sea, a beautiful hilltop city only about twenty-five kilometers away from Lamezia Terme. The city between two seas (Mediterranean and Ionian).  This entire region was Magna Graecia, great Greece. There are still towns here in Catania where people speak Greek.

The Greeks called her principality Héraklês monoikos, Hercules, the Solitary, because the strongman had a temple in Monaco (monoikos).

Nice is Nike. The entire settlement was dedicated to Thêa Nikaia, goddess of victory.

This film is called Anthony and Cleopatra in English. In Greek it is something like Under the Shadow of the Pyramids. Do you see who’s starring in it?   Tsarlton Eston (Charlton Heston).  You can pry my spear from my cold, dead hands.

Καλον ευ λεγε              Praise the good

Tripoli, a town on the Peloponnesian peninsula, where Big Brother and the Holding Company played in 2009, was once called treis polis, three cities.

 Ευπροσηγορος γινου         Be courteous.                                                               Photo:   Max Clarke

Από την πόλη έρχομαι, και στην κορφή κανέλα.       From the city I come and cinnamon on the mountain.     This is a nonsensical, surreal phrase, but the word κανέλα (cinnamon) is interesting because it came down into Spanish.

Ομιλει πραως               Live together meekly.

There is a restaurant in Tucson called El Güero Canelo which means the paleface cinnamon, or, as we would say, the strawberry blonde. Let’s face it, it basically means ‘honky.’  Anyway that canelo, canela in the Greek saying above is a direct descendent of κανέλα, cinnamon.

All About My Mother

Φιλοις βοηθει                     Help your friends.

Beautiful women.  Do you recognize them?

Αρχε σεαυτου                 Control yourself.

Elizabeth filled with the holy spirit.  See the word pneúmatos? That means spirit, which is close to respiration, breath, pneuma.  Our tires are pneumatic because they are filled with air.

Photo:     Polly Belinda Rendall

Roughly four thousand years ago, the first Indo Europeans settled in the Peloponnesian peninsula.

These were Myceneans, Ionians, Dorians, Achaeans and other Greek tribes.

They brought their language with them, although early on they wrote in a script called Linear B.

Linear B was descended from a script called Linear A that has still not been deciphered.

Here are some Greek words you use every day, although they are often embedded in other words and phrases:  Ana- from low to high (anabolic steroids), cognate with English on.  Cata- down, from high to low (catastrophe, cataclysm).  Palino- backwards (palindrome).  Callo- beautiful (callopygian, calligraphy).

Talk about calligraphy. Here is an introduction to the band that I wrote out and spoke from the stage when we were in Greece. This has to be the worst Greek handwriting that I have ever seen.  I wrote this quickly in a dark green room shortly before we went on. First I introduce Peter, then Dave,  then Ben Nieves and then Mary Bridget Davies (MBD).

They seemed to understand what I was saying.  At least they clapped in all the right places.

Αυτά που θες ξενέρωτος, τα κάνεις μεθυσμένος.                In vino veritas.          What you wish sober, you act out drunk.

Μηδεν αγαν                     Nothing to excess.

We used to do a song called Cuckoo. I loved that tune. Peter Albin played guitar on it, and I played bass.

Cuckoo might be the oldest song in the English language.

Ένας κούκος δε φέρνει την Άνοιξη.         One cuckoo doesn’t bring the spring.

Φιλοσοφος γινου         Be a seeker of wisdom.

Elise and I took the bus from Athens to Tripoli on the Peloponesian peninsula.

Η βιβλιοθήκη είναι το φαρμακείο του μυαλού.                The library is a pharmacy for the mind.

Αλυπως βιου                            Live without sorrow.

Θυμου κρατει                 Control anger.                                       Max Clarke photograph

Suffixes and prefixes:     -trope turn towards (heliotrope, turn towards the sun, Zoetrope turn towards life).   -phile  lover (She is a homophile).  -lâtre who venerates (idolater).  Théo god (theocracy).

ηβων εγκρατης           As a youth self disciplined.

Ti kaneis anastash? kala? pos perases ta xristougena? sou eyxomai kalh xronia na xeis k oti epithimeis na xeis k oti den sou efere to 2010 na sto ferei to 2011.

This is the way Greeks write to each other on the internet when they don’t have the keyboard for the Greek alphabet.

This is called Greeklish. Lots of English words and the use, for example, of ‘anastash’ for the name Anastásios.

Τα Greeklish (Γκρίκλις), από τις λέξεις greek (ελληνικά) και english (αγγλικά), γνωστά και ως Grenglish, Λατινοελληνικά ή Φραγκολεβαντίνικα, είναι η ελληνική γλώσσα γραμμένη με το λατινικό αλφάβητο.

This is English:   I think of Greeklish as the writing of Greek with the Roman alphabet, but here is an example of the writing of English with the Greek alphabet (Grenglish).  It’s your language.  Can you decipher it using the alphabet below?  It says: If you are Greek, please write in Greek and be proud of your language. When you write in Greeklish, it looks that stupid.  Thank you.

I understand, of course, the purist point of view that Greek should always be written with the Greek alphabet.

Sometimes, though, you have to write an e mail to someone and you don’t have a Greek keyboard.  What are you going to do?  I must admit that I have written Greeklish many times.

More Grenglish (English written with the Greek alphabet).  Can you read it?   Fuck lifestyle.

I’m sure it meant something at the time.

People, mostly young people the world over, use the keyboard Roman letters to write their own language. Chinese do it. Japanese do it. Russians do it. Greeks do it. Anyone whose language uses another alphabet besides Roman has probably, at one time or another, used the alphabet we use on the computer keyboard to write their language. It’s a matter of expediency.

 μεσος δικαιος        As of middle age, just.                                      Photo:   Max Clarke

Η περιέργεια είναι η αρχή της σοφίας.

Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.

It’s all English to me.

Can you read this? It’s in English.  Well, sort of, anyway.

πρεσβυτης ευλογος            As an old man, sensible.

Greek pride:    Our language, the mother of languages.

I speak and write Greek and not greeklish.

Set  list       Athens        8 November 2009

Παις ων κοσμιος ισθι             As a child be well behaved.

Πλουτει δικιως               Acquire wealth justly.

Οταν λείπει ο γάτος, τα ποντίκια χορεύουν.  Quando la gatta non è in paese, i topi ballano.

When the cat isn’t in the country, the mice dance, or, as we would say, When the cat’s away, the mice will play.

Τυχη μη πιστευε            Do not trust fortune.

Ομορφιαααά!

Xρόνια Πολλά κοριτσάκι. Όλα τα καλά      Happy birthday, Constantína, all the best to you.   Πολύχρονη κι αγαπημένη, Κωνσταντίνα!

xronia polla theie na ta ekatotiseis…!  kai oti epithimeis..!

Φθιμενους μη αδικει                     Do not wrong the dead.

Yes, the word automobile is Greek.  So is car, for that matter.

The word for this in Greek was karo, cart.

kalh xronia na exoyme k na ta poume apo konta sto neo etos sthn australia k panta me ygeia

The Greek soul’s urge for independence is always strong.

Επαγγελου μηδενι            Make promises to no one.

kalimera 3adelfe..    na loipon pou gnwristikame estw kai mesa apo to facebook!      w = omega   3 = e epsilon

Τω βιω μη αχθου.               Do not be discontented with life.

Μπράβο στην Χριστίνα         Hooray for Christina           Some strange ones  MP = B       NT = D

My friend Milena:  tha ton poioume ton kafe alla egw ton poino me poli zaxarh.        egw = ego = I

Απολαυστικός Γεωργακοπουλος, αν και δεν συμφωνώ για το deal breaker του Ποταμιου.  I wrote a whole web log about the word ‘apolaustic.’  I had no idea that it was also a name in Greek.

Απολαυστικός       Apolaustic in English means seeking a life of pleasure or enjoyment, but it is different from ‘hedonistic’ in that the pleasure may be mental, spiritual, physical.

On the other hand…     ΓΝΩΡΙΜΙΕΣ ΓΙΑ ΑΠΟΛΑΥΣΤΙΚΟ ΣΕΞ

Επι νεκρω μη γελα           Do not make fun of the dead.

Η Σελήνη σου δείχνει με ποια άτομα μπορείς να έχεις ερωτική ταύτιση!

Προγονους στεφανου           Crown your ancestors.

Κυριε ελεησον!     Kyrie eleison      We said this phrase when we were altar boys.   Lord have mercy!

This license plate photographed by Max Clarke has the word fool on it. A sopho moros (sophomore) is a wise fool.

Νεωτερον διδασ           Teach a youngster.

If you were going to write the English word love with Greek letters, it might look like the last word above. LOB. The Greek word for love might look more like the first word PHIL. Philos.     Feel the love.

Sir Nicholas Winton with some of the people, then children, whom he saved from the Nazis in 1939.          Ήρωας      Hero

Αποντι μη μαχου            Do not oppose someone who is absent.

Συν Αθηνά και χείρα κίνει.      Literally,  With Athena and moving the hands.      Heaven helps those who help themselves.  Elise on the Acropolis.

γλαῦκ’ Ἀθήναζε / εἰς Ἀθήνας     Owls to Athens.   Owls can also mean drachmas.    Owls to Athens is like coals to Newcastle.  They have a lot of owls in Athens, because the owl is the sacred bird of Athena.

Φειδομενος μη λειπε             Do not stop to be thrifty.

pou eisai?  athina

We change some money.

Κινδυνευε φρονιμως       Venutre into danger prudently.

Κακιαν μισει                 Despise evil.

Απεχθειαν φευγε               Flee enmity.

ἀεὶ ὁ θεὸς ὁ μέγας γεωμετρεῖ τὸ σύμπαν       Always the great god geometrizes everything.    This is a saying of Plato (Πλάτων) and it has been turned into a mnemonic for memorizing π (pi).     π = 3.1415926…   Look at the number of letters in Plato’s saying.  ἀεὶ = 3.   ὁ = 1   θεὸς = 4    ὁ = 1   μέγας = 5      γεωμετρεῖ = 9    τὸ = 2   σύμπαν = 6

Σαν την αγκαλιά της μητέρας καμία.

The nine Muses

Χρόνια πολλά στις μανούλες όλου του κόσμου!

Επι ρωμη μη καυχω           Do not boast in might.

Eisodos      entrance

γλυκουλααα μμμ ♥  φωναραα μμ σε αγαπαω πολυυυ αδερφουλα μμ ♥ και παντα θα μαι διπλα σου να το ξερεισ ♥

Pathos can be feeling (pathos, pathetic, sympathy) and it can be disease (pathology, sociopath).   Max Clarke

Δοξαν μη λειπε                Do not abandon honor.

Mens’ names:  Johnny, Michael, Constantine, Nicholas, Panayiotes, Evangelos (which means good messenger in Greek).

χαχαχαχα          χ = the ch in Scottish loch = a heavy, breathed H sound      The pig says ‘Happy Easter.’  Do you think the lamb is going for it?

So, χαχαχαχα is how Greek people write the sound of laughing.

Ομονοιαν διωκε          Pursue harmony.

η καλή μουσική και το καλό το σεξ        ακούγονται δυνατα

Beautiful music.  Give him a hand.

εὕρηκα!   Californians know this verb well.  While Archimedes was taking a bath, he noticed that the level of the water rose as he got in, and he realized that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged. This meant that the volume of irregular objects could be calculated with precision, a previously intractable problem. He was so excited that he ran through the streets naked and still wet from his bath, crying “I have found it!”

For Californians, though, Eureka! means the finding of the golden state and the finding of the gold. Archimedes’ word is on the state seal.

Καιρον προσδεχου            Accept due measure.

Δεῖμος καὶ Φόβος        Horror and Fear        Deimos and Phobos, the moons of Mars, are named after the sons of the Greek god of war Ares (Roman Mars).

Το κρατουν φοβου              Fear ruling.

Thank you        ευχαριστουμε      Do you see the word ‘eucharist’ in there?

A big thank you.

The noun εὐχαριστία (eucharistia), meaning “thanksgiving,” signifies to Roman Catholics  that Jesus is present body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Holy Eucharist.

Αρρητον κρυπτε           Keep deeply the top secret.

Gynaika = Woman  (gynecology, gynephilia)

ἦλθον, εἶδον, ἐνίκησα.    Veni, vidi, vici.       As we shall see below, Julius Caesar often spoke Greek, which would be a little like a British general speaking French today. Caesar said these Greek words, instead of ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’

καὶ σὺ τέκνον;    You too, child?   On the Ides of March  44 BC, Julius Caesar was murdered by a group of senators, including Marcus Junius Brutus, a senator and Caesar’s adopted son. We are more familiar with the Latin words Et tu, Brute? (And you, Brutus?), which Shakespeare gave to Caesar in Julius Caesar (act 3, scene 1,85).  Notice that the Greek is much more personal.

Aphrodite in Patras

Πραττε συντομως             Act quickly.

Οφθαλμου κρατει             Control the eye.

Αμαρτανων μετανοει         Repent of wrongdoing.

 Σεαυτον ευ ποιει            Treat yourself well.                   Photo:   Max Clarke

Περας επιτελει μη αποδειλιων     Finish the race without shrinking back.

Βιας μη εχου              Do not depend on strength.

Γλωτταν ισχε            Restrain the tongue.

Ευγνωμων γινου              Be grateful.

Elise and I walked around Athens at night. It was so calm and evocative. Beautiful.

καλλίστῃ      To the most beautiful one.

Κρινε δικαια             Make just judgments.

Notice where he put the accent on his name. Pythagóras.  I’ve often wondered why we don’t retain the same stress as in the original. Why do we say Pythágoras?

Maybe it plays Lady of Spain when it goes around corners?

Ακουων ορα           Observe what you have heard.

Κωνσταντίνος Μάνος          Konstantínos Mános

Ελπιδα αινει                  Praise hope.

Our neighborhood in Athens

We lived a couple of blocks from this metro station, but we walked everywhere and never took the train.

τὰ πάντα ῥεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει.        Everything flows and nothing remains.                 Heraclitus

Sam Andrew  The Archer   Orpheus     (I drew this in Athens.)

τελευτων αλυπος      Reaching the end without sorrow.

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Hildegard von Bingen

Hildegard von Bingen composed hymns.

I first knew Hildegard von Bingen as a song creator because I sang Gregorian chant in St. Ignatius church in San Francisco.

Hildegard was also a playwright whose lyrical drama Ordo Virtutum gave the nuns an opportunity to frolic in silk gowns and jewels.

Hildegard was a scholar who amassed a library at a time when books were rare and difficult to obtain.

She was science minded and was a practitioner of holistic medicine with advanced knowledge of herbal healing.

Much of our knowledge about Hildegarde von Bingen is based on a biography written by two contemporary monks, Godefrid and Theodoric.

The tenth child in a noble family, Hildegarde was placed under the care of a Catholic anchoress named Jutta, at the age of eight.

Jutta was a recluse who set up a Benedictine community just outside of Bingen.

Benedictine nuns lived hermetic lives and spent most of their time alone in meditation.

Influenced by Jutta’s devotional lifestyle, Hildegarde dedicated herself to the church.

Although she claimed to have had supernatural visions as an infant, she hid her prophetic ability, revealing it only to Jutta, who died when Hildegarde was 38.

In 1136, Hildegarde assumed the role of Mother Superior of the convent.

In 1147, she moved the convent to Rupertsberg, a town near Bingen, as urged by one of her visions.

Although never formally educated and unable to write, Hildegarde quickly became a well-regarded authority and gave influential advice, relying on secretaries to transcribe her ideas onto paper.

She was an idolized visionary who earned a saint-like status and name, despite her lack of official beatification.

Hildegarde herself created a drawing, or illumination, in her manuscript Scivias (Know the Ways), circa 1140–50, of her defining vision, in which the great span of the universe revealed itself to her in a trance as “round and shadowy…pointed at the top, like an egg…its outermost layer of a bright fire.”

On 7 October 2012, Pope Benedict XVI  named Hildegard von Bingen a Doctor of the Church.

Hildegard has become well known among feminist scholars.

She called herself a member of the “weaker sex” and she severely judged other women.

Hildegard frequently referred to herself as an unlearned woman, completely incapable of Biblical exegesis.

Such a statement on her part, however, worked to her advantage because it made her statements that all of her writings and music came from visions of the Divine more believable.

Hildegard had the authority to speak in a time and place where few women were permitted a voice.

Hildegard used her voice to condemn church practices she disagreed with, in particular simony, which is the act of selling church offices and roles.

The practice is named after Simon Magus, who is described in the Acts of the Apostles 8:9–24 as having offered two disciples of Jesus, Peter and John, payment in exchange for their empowering him to impart the power of the Holy Spirit to anyone on whom he would place his hands.

For some years now Hildegard has been an admired figure in the New Age movement, mostly due to her holistic and natural view of healing, as well as her status as a mystic.

It is quite probable that Hildegard von Bingen invented the morality play.

Hildegard’s musical compositions are the best-preserved body of work by any medieval composer, and her work is so completely original that it is a delight to sing.

Her medical treatises and herbals rank with the most sophisticated works of her day.

She thought about and wrote about theology and cosmology, instructing the greatest minds of her day in the fine points of the composition of heavenly spheres, not to mention the relationship of the planets to both the human form and the divine.

A Nectarine is Glabrous, but a Peach is Downy.

There are several words for ‘bald’ in Latin.

Calvus is the word that came down into the daughter Romance languages.

In French, a ‘bat’ is a chauve-souris, a bald mouse. Chauve is a descendant of calvus.

‘Baldness’ in French is calvitie.

Calvo means ‘bald’ in both Spanish and Italian.

Calvus was the common street word for ‘bald.’  Plautus used it.

The word calvus comes from Proto Indo European *kalw-  (“bald”). Cognate with Avestan (kaurva, “bald”), Persian کل (kal, “bald, hairless”), Sanskrit कुल्व (kulva, “bald”).

Another word for ‘bald’ in Latin is glaber.

Glaber means ‘without hair, smooth.’

Glaber is perhaps a more educated word than calvus.

Why would anyone conclude that glaber is the more educated word and calvus the more popular one?

The main reason is that calvus is the word that came down into the Romance languages, which always took the street word rather than the school word.

After all, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Sicilian, Romanian and the rest were all created by the way common people spoke Latin.

The word equus is the refined word for ‘horse’ in Latin.

From equus we get such words as ‘equine’ and ‘equestrian.’

The Latin street word for ‘horse’ was caballus, which had the connotation of, say, ‘nag.’

From caballus we get Spanish caballo, Italian cavallo, French cheval and such words as cavalry, cavalier, chivalrous, chevalier.

Calvus (bald) even came down into German, not a Romance language at all.

‘Bald’ in German is kahl, obviously from Latin calvus.

Another reason for concluding that glaber is the ‘educated’ word for ‘bald’ is that glaber is that the word that is used even today in the sciences and in the library.

Glaber comes from the Proto Indo European *gʰladʰros and is cognate to Proto-Germanic *gladaz and Old Church Slavonic гладъкъ (gladъkъ).

The German word glatt (smooth) comes from glaber.

I feel as if such words as glide, glassy, glabrous are related to glaber.

Gaius Claudius Glaber was the Roman praetor in 73 BCE. who failed to defeat Spartacus and his fellow slaves on Mt. Vesuvius during the Third Servile War.

It’s a safe bet that Gaius Claudius Glaber was nowhere near as hirsute as this puppet.

In botany and mycology, a glabrous morphological feature is smooth, glossy, having no trichomes (bristles or hair-like structures).

Glabrous features may be an important means of identifying flora species. Glabrous characteristics of leaves, stems, and fruit are commonly used in plant keys.

The term glabrous is only used for features that lack trichomes at all times. When an organ has trichomes that are lost with age, the term used is glabrescent.

Most mammals have some skin areas without natural hair.

On the human body, glabrous skin is external skin that is naturally hairless.

Glabrous skin is found on the ventral portion of the fingers, palmar surfaces of hands, soles of feet, lips,labia minora, and the glans penis.

Recently, the term glabrousness has been somewhat cavalierly applied to human fashions, wherein some participate in culturally motivated hair removal by depilation  or epilation (removal of the entire hair, such as waxing or plucking).

In many Western cultures men currently are encouraged to shave their beards and women are encouraged to remove hair growth on various areas.

Commonly depilated areas for women are the underarms and legs.

Underarm hair removal is sometimes called axillary depilation.

Of course, people who sell depilatory aids spend a lot of money on advertising to promote hair removal practices.

This commercial push has resulted in the Brazilian waxing trend involving the partial or full removal of pubic hair, since thongs worn on Brazilian beaches are so revealing.

What was once kept a personal secret now is discussed more openly, although still in carefully non-explicit language, as advertised in magazines and on television.

In ancient Egypt, depilation was commonly practiced to prevent infestation by lice and other vermin.

Typically, tweezers were used to pluck out individual hairs.

In both Greece and Rome the removal of body and pubic hair may have been practiced among both men and women.

Both men and women were depicted without body or pubic hair on some of the red figure pottery from Greece.

Muslims have believed at various times that adult removal of pubic and axillary hair, as a hygienic measure, is also religiously beneficial.

Baptized Sikhs, on the other hand, are specifically instructed never to cut, shave, or otherwise remove any hair on their bodies. This is a major tenet of their faith.

Trichophilia is hair fetishism.

A merkin is a pubic wig.

I know a woman named Daphne Merkin.  She’s a writer for The New Yorker.

Daphne means ‘bay’ or ‘laurel,’ so Daphne Merkin could mean a pubic hair wig that is made from laurel leaves, so I enjoy seeing Daphne’s byline in my favorite magazine.  She’s a very good writer. I’ve kidded her about her name and she has taken it in good grace.

Merkins were originally worn by prostitutes after shaving their genitalia, and are now used as decorative items, erotic devices, or in films, by both men and women. This is a merkin worn at Burning Man.

The Oxford English dictionary says that the word ‘merkin’ was first used in 1617.

The word merkin came from a term for the “female pudenda,” apparently a variant of malkin in its sense of “mop.”

The meaning “artificial vagina or ‘counterfeit hair for a woman’s privy parts’ ” is attested from 1610s.

The custom of wearing a merkin dates from mid fifteenth century, and it was associated with prostitutes, and was to disguise a want of pubic hair, shaved off either to exterminate body lice or evidence of venereal disease.

This put a strange Whim in his Head; which was, to get the hairy circle of a Merkin …. This he dry’d well, and comb’d out, and then return’d to the Cardinall, telling him, he had brought St. Peter’s Beard.      A Complete History of the Lives and Robberies of the most notorious Highwaymen 1714   Alexander Smith

In Hollywood,  merkins can be worn by actors to avoid inadvertent exposure of the genitalia during nude or semi-nude scenes.

If a merkin were not worn, it would be necessary to restrict the shot to exclude the genital area.

With the merkin in place, brief flashes of the crotch can be used if necessary.

The presence of the merkin protects the actor from inadvertently performing “full-frontal” nudity. Some contracts specifically require that nipples and genitals be covered in some way — which can help ensure that the film achieves a less restrictive MPAA rating.

A merkin may also be used if the actor has less pubic hair than required, such as the nude dancing extras in The Bank Job or Amy Landecker in A Serious Man. In a nude sunbathing scene, her bikini wax was not common for the period (1967) when the film is set).

For the same reason (having less pubic hair than required) female slaves in Spartacus: Blood and Sand wore merkins.

Lucy Lawless was fitted for a merkin for Spartacus, but did not actually use it.

In an interview for Allure, Kate Winslet related how she refused to wear a merkin in The Reader.

Let me tell you, The Reader was not glamorous for me in terms of body-hair maintenance. I had to grow it in, because you can’t have a landing strip in 1950, you know? And then because of years of waxing, as all of us girls know, it doesn’t come back quite the way it used to. They even made me a merkin because they were so concerned that I might not be able to grow enough. I said, ‘Guys, I am going to have to draw the line at a pubic wig, but you can shoot my own snatch up close and personal.

At the São Paulo Fashion Week in 2010, design firm Neon dressed a nude model in transparent plastic. According to the designer, the model wore a pubic wig to make her appear more natural.

In the director’s audio commentary of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, director David Fincher discussed how a merkin was utilized for actress Rooney Mars, after she suggested to him that the character she portrayed in the movie was a natural red head in the book and actually dyed her hair black.

Consequently, the merkin Rooney Mara wore for the film was made in the color red.

The term merkin has been used in an obscene sense to refer to the vulva.

Merkins R Us:  In the UK, the term merkin has also been in common usage as a jocular term for an American since the 1960s.

Tea Party members call themselves a merkin.  ”Ah’m Amerkin.”

The Oxford English Dictionary reports that the term merkin has become common Internet slang for Americans or American English.

The popular saltwater fly fishing lure, used primarily in targeting bonefish, Del Brown’s Merkin, is named after the artificial hairpiece.   Bonefish?

The Merkin fly pattern represents a crab, which refers to the merkin’s historical use for pubic lice (crabs).

Del’s Merkin is tied with a disc of fuzzy yarn, imitating the crab’s shell, but also reminiscent of the fly’s namesake.

In Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel Lolita, Humbert Humbert confesses to the reader,  ”Although I told myself I was looking merely for a soothing presence, a glorified pot-au-feu, an animated merkin, what really attracted me to Valeria was the imitation she gave of a little girl.”

In Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 Dr. Strangelove,  the President of the United States, played by Peter Sellers, is named Merkin Muffley.

Maynard James Keenan, lead singer of American progressive metal band Tool, owns an Arizona grape vineyard by the name of Merkin Vineyards.

“The pain, disruption and distress, that the Sun inflicted by falsely claiming that I cheated on my girlfriend, in the context of such awesome corruption, is a pale liver-spot on the back of Murdoch’s glabrous claw.”          Russell Brand

“The Cyclops had a glabrous eyeball, glabrous as a piece of porcelain.”             Sam Andrew

She shaved religiously from an early age so that her vulva was perfectly glabrous both before and after she went through puberty.

Glabrous skin on the palmar aspect of the hands and the plantar aspect of the feet has special attributes.

These attributes define the skin on the palm, fingers, and sole as functionally and aesthetically different from skin on other parts of the body.

When there is a glabrous skin defect, it should be replaced with similar skin to restore function and aesthetics.

An author/physician reports his 12-year experience with the technique of glabrous dermal grafting for the reconstruction of palmar and plantar skin defects.

From 1992 to 2004, 13 patients with 14 defects underwent glabrous dermal grafting of either palmar or plantar defects.

Defects included nine hand and five foot defects.

Causes included nine acute burns, one secondary burn reconstruction, two delayed reconstructions of traumatic injuries, one congenital nevus, and one malignant melanoma.

Donor sites included 12 glabrous dermal grafts from the foot and two from the hand.

All glabrous dermal grafts demonstrated complete epithelialization and no incidence of complete loss.

Glabrous dermal grafting of palmar and plantar defects is the ideal way of reconstructing glabrous skin to restore both function and aesthetics and minimize donor-site morbidity.

Glabrous (nonhairy) skin surfaces (palms of the hands, soles of the feet, face, and ears) constitute a small percentage of total body surface area but contain specialized vascular structures that facilitate heat loss.

Cooling the glabrous skin surfaces is effective in alleviating heat stress and that the application of local subatmospheric pressure enhances the effect.

A line of shells, white and pink and glabrous in the bright sunlight, marked the line of the high tide.

They brandish weapons more befitting to their glabrous state: candor, transparency, directness and a kind of perceptive wonder.

Glabrous skin has an epidermal layer of about 1.5 mm in thickness and a dermis of about 3 mm. Hairy skin has an epidermal layer of 0.07 mm in thickness and a dermis of about 1-2 mm.

There are four different types of skin:  1. Mucocutaneous: at the junction of the mucous membrane, hairy skin, lips, and tongue.   2.  Mucous membrane: lining the inside of body orifices.    3.  Glabrous: skin without hair.    4.  Hairy: skin with hair.

Some ways to communicate the concept ‘glabrous’ in Spanish:   liso, calvo, llano, sin pelo ni pelusa

In Italian:  glabro, senza peluria, liscio

French:  glabre, lisse

German:   glatt    haarlos    bartlos    unbehaart

Greek:   άτριχος    This is a (not)  and trichos (hair)

Russian:    безволосый; гладкий; голый; лишенный волосяного покрова; неопушенный; оголенный    The second word ‘gladkii’ is from the root word glaber in Latin.

Swedish:    hårlös      glatt

Japanese:      無毛の（植物学, 動物学）  Notice that most of these languages are translating the idea of ‘hairlessness’ or ‘not hair’ as here.

“Two or three notabilities of Rockland, with geoponic eyes, and glabrous, bumpless foreheads.”   Oliver Wendell Holmes  1860

And hast thou shorn the Jabberwock? O glabrous day!

Watch for the new Gillette Glabrous.

Glabrous epidermis of Astrophytum asterias nudum

When she meets him, Elsa has the impression “that his body was more like that of a sea lion” – Finn is entirely glabrous.

The face, after all, includes another glabrous surface of the body, so cooling it with water might help stave off exhaustion.

Stem 2–4° high; racemes slender, panicled, ovaries mostly 5, glabrous; pods flattened, veiny, 6–8-seeded.

A Salix glabra is a glabrous willow.

In German this willow is called a Kahle Weide.  Remember that calvus (bald) in German is kahl.

‘I am bound by precedent,’ said the First Lord, turning a vast glabrous expressionless face from Harte to Sir Joseph. — Patrick O’Brian, HMS Surprise   1973

Adriaan rose, pulling out his limbering glabrous cock, his eyes happy. — Guy Davenport     Tatlin!   1974

Acomoclitism (from Greek κομη = hair, negation prefix α-, and κλιτικος = having a preference, from κλινειν = to lean, κλιτυς = a slope) is the technical term for a preference for hairless genitals. The related adjective describing anyone with this preference is acomoclitic.

Acomous, bald, depilous, glabrate, glabrescent, leiotrichous, tonsured

Everyone’s favorite glabrous, middle-brow, populist television commentator is back for this world cup.

To be glabrous in school can be quite a fashion or a nightmare, depending upon your ability to carry off the bald look.

WEST PALM BEACH:      G-l-a-b-r-o-u-s spelled success for a trio of super spellers from Scripps Research Institute and Duffy’s Sports Grill.

The three-person team of Alicia Brantley, Becky Mercer and Lisa Huertas correctly spelled their 10th and final word this evening to win the Great Grown-Up Spelling Bee at the Harriet Himmel Theatre at City Place.

The Scripps/Duffy’s team outlasted runners-up Palm Beach State College and the Gunster law firm with their correct spelling of “glabrous,” an adjective that means having an outer layer of skin that is devoid of hairs or down.

The antithesis of hirsuteness, glabrous is the logophile’s alternative to bald.

By the age of fourteen, Omar stood at a man’s full height and his upper lip bore a dark and lustrous moustache. The other boys, shamed by their glabrous jowls and chins, avoided him.

Glabrous vermicelli

We’ve always regarded slipper lobsters with a modicum of respect because they are hardy and interesting. Slipper lobsters have no pincers and they are welcome in both fish and reef aquariums since they don’t harm anything.  When we saw the glabrous fan lobster, Ibacus bruceii, which immediately reminded us of Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, we were truly astounded.

The glabrous fan lobster comes from New South Wales, Australia, and it was originally discovered from specimens that were collected at a depth of nearly 500 feet.

The glabrous skin on Joe’s feet was tough because he often went barefoot.

A talented gardener finds that some of his bean plants have pubescent leaves and others have glabrous leaves. He crosses plants and observes the results.

This species has a bluish-tinged body completely covered in white flecking in the typical species, though one may see completely glabrous green variants without any of the body flecking.

Lips, palms and the soles of the feet are examples of glabrous skin in humans.

Think of the éclat when Sergei, resplendent, clean-shaven, glabrous and glorious, returns from his bearded sojourn!

We resisted the rebarbative redneck’s demands on us and we vouchsafed to buy the glabrous old hillbilly a proper hairpiece.

Britney’s glabrous scabbard in all of its shiny and smooth glory was a thing of beauty and a joy to behold.

It was as glabrous as a baby’s bottom.

He was thrilled about having pancakes with Teri, but, after all, he was as glabrous as a bowling ball.  What chance would he have with her?

He had a glabrous dome and a crooked smile that would have done credit to a crocodile.

Cognates of GLABROUS (without hair) at Indo-European “root” gladh (smooth) are GABRO and GLABELLA.

Other Indo-European “root”s meaning baldness are kelewo and klewo, giving us CALVARIUM, CALVINIST, CALVARY and CALVITIES.

GLABROUS deserves mention at Indo-European “root” gal (bald, naked) along with CALLOW.

Goliboda is a Polish barber.

Other “gol” words in Polish are golarnia (barbershop), golec (naked man…poor wretch), and golo (naked, bare, in the open air).

See you next week?

Sam Andrew                              Wesley Freeman

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Solo il 1 febbraio è al Fillmore Auditorium

No, no, Jimi è a Winterland.

Ma noi come siamo giunti l’altra volta al 2 e al 4 febbraio? devo vedere un’altra lista di concerti….avevamo incrociato le cose e avevamo pensato che fosse possibile che quel giorno entrambi si trovassero nella stessa città in due diversi locali e che uno dei due potesse essere in visita..perchè al winterland si sono incrociati niente mi pare….o sbaglio? non ricordo più ahahhahahha

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Somalia, Libya, Ethiopa and Eritrea, and by expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. If you’ve ever stayed in Italian villas, you’ll have heard the language in all of its glory.

Voglio venire anch’io al caldo con voi.

Many of these people speak both standardized Italian and other regional languages.

Italian is spoken as a native language by 59 million people in the EU (13% of the EU population), mainly in Italy, and as a second language by 14 million (3%). English is a far more common second language. If you are trying to master your own English skills then this PTE Practice test online will be of great help to you.

Linda foto

Including the Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland and Albania) and on other continents, the total number of Italian speakers is more than 85 million.

Bellissimee! Bacionii!

In Switzerland, Italian is one of four official languages.

Italian is studied in all the confederation schools and spoken, as a native language, in the Swiss cantons of Ticino and Grigioni and by the Italian immigrants that are present in large numbers in German- and French-speaking cantons.

Il Sole non termina con la fotosfera e la cromosfera, ma continua in una nebulosità chiamata corona. Quest’ultima si estende oltre l’orbita di Mercurio, di Venere e della Terra…sicchè in realtà noi siamo dentro il Sole.

Italian is also the official language of San Marino, as well as the primary language of the Vatican City.

Gnoccolitudine che avanza…

Italian is co-official in Slovenian Istria and in Istria County in Croatia.

Gli occhi molto belli sono insostenibili, bisogna guardarli sempre, ci si affoga dentro, ci si perde, non si sa più dove si è.

The Italian language adopted by the state after the unification of Italy in 1861 is based on Tuscan, which was a language spoken mostly by the upper class Florentine society.

The development of the national language was also influenced by other Italian dialects and by the Germanic languages of the post Roman invaders.

Italian is descended from Latin, and unlike most other Romance languages, retains Latin’s contrast between short and long consonants.

As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive. Italian is the closest language to Latin in terms of vocabulary.

Italian as a language used in the Italian peninsula has a long history. The earliest surviving texts that can definitely be called Italian (or more accurately, vernacular, as distinct from its predecessor Vulgar Latin) are legal formulae from the province of Benevento that date from 960–963.

What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early fourteenth century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine.

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita,
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
ché la diritta via era smarrita.

Dante’s epic poems, known collectively as the Commedia, which another Tuscan poet Giovanni Bocaccio called Divina, were read throughout Italy and his written dialect became the “canonical standard” that all educated Italians could understand.

Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence (Tuscan, toscano) became the basis for what would become the official language of Italy.

Italian often was an official language of the various Italian states preceding the nineteenth century unification, slowly usurping Latin, even when the country was ruled by foreign powers such as the Spanish in Naples or the Austrians in the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.

The great mass of people in the peninsula spoke primarily vernacular languages and dialects.

Italian was also one of the many recognized languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Italy has always had a distinctive dialect for each city, because the cities, until recently, were thought of as separate countries, as city-states.

The regional dialects of Italy have always had great variety, and many/most of them are mutually incomprehensible.

As Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian.

Tanti bei ricordi.

The most characteristic differences, for instance, between Roman Italian and Milanese Italian are the gemination (‘twinning’) of initial consonants and the pronunciation of stressed “e”, and of “s” in some cases. Va bene ”all right” is pronounced [va ?b??ne] by a Roman (and by any standard-speaker), [va ?bene] by a Milanese (and by any speaker whose native dialect lies to the north of La Spezia-Rimini Line.

A casa ”at home” is [a ?k?asa] for Roman and standard, [a ?kaza] for Milanese and generally northern regions.

In contrast to the northern Italian, southern Italian dialects and languages were largely untouched by the Franco-Occitan influences introduced to Italy, mainly by bards and trouvères (troubadours) from France during the Middle Ages.

After the Norman conquest of southern Italy, Sicily became the first Italian land to adopt Occitan lyric moods (and words) in poetry.

Scholars are careful not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages even in the case of northern Italian.

Ho conosciuto l’amore, in tutte le sue vivaci forme d’espressione… E non mi sono mai meravigliata di niente!

The economic might and relatively advanced development of Tuscany in the late middle ages gave that dialect weight, although the Venetian language remained widespread in medieval Italian commercial life.

Dobbiamo festeggiare , bacione stellina …auguri.

Ligurian or Genoese remained in use in maritime trade alongside the Mediterranean, but the increasing political and cultural relevance of Florence during the periods of the rise of the Medici’s financial power, the currents of Humanism and the Renaissance made the Florentine dialect, or rather a refined version of it, a standard in the arts.

Ne avevo pure un’altra ma non ricordo dove.

From the Renaissance on, Italian became the language used in the courts of every state in the peninsula.

Le tre ave maria !

The rediscovery of Dante’s De vulgari eloquentia and a renewed interest in linguistics in the sixteenth century, sparked a debate that raged throughout Italy concerning the criteria that should govern the establishment of a modern Italian literary and spoken language.

Posso rubare questa foto?

Scholars divided into three factions:

• The purists, headed by Venetian Pietro Bembo (who, in his Gli Asolani, claimed the language might be based only on the great literary classics, such as Petrarca and some part of Boccaccio). The purists thought the Divine Comedy not dignified enough, because it used elements from non-lyric registers of the language.

• Niccolò Machiavelli and other Florentines preferred the version spoken by ordinary people in their own times.

• The courtiers, like Baldassare Castiglione and Gian Giorgio Trissino, insisted that each local vernacular contribute to the new standard.
• A fourth faction claimed that the best Italian was the one that the papal court adopted, which was a mix of Florentine and the dialect of Rome.
• 
• Eventually, Bembo’s ideas prevailed, and the foundation of the Accademia della Crusca in Florence (1582–1583), the official legislative body of the Italian language, led to publication of Agnolo Monosini’s Latin work Floris italicae linguae libri novem in 1604 followed by the first Italian dictionary in 1612.

An important event that helped the diffusion of Italian was the conquest and occupation of Italy by Napoleone in the early nineteenth century (who was himself of Italian-Corsican descent).

This Napoleonic conquest propelled the unification of Italy some decades after, and turned Tuscan Italian into a lingua franca used not only by clerks, nobility and functionaries in the Italian courts but also by the bourgeoisie.

In Italian literature’s first modern novel, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed), Alessandro Manzoni further defined the standard language by “rinsing” his Milanese dialect “in the waters of the Arno” (Florence’s river), as he stated in the Preface to his 1840 edition.

After unification a huge number of civil servants and soldiers recruited from all over the country introduced many more words and idioms from their home languages.

“Ciao,” for example, is derived from a Venetian word “s-cia[v]o” (slave), meaning ‘I am your slave,” a phrase of affection. Click the link to learn more Greetings in Italian.

“Panettone” (a kind of Christmas cake) comes from the Lombard word “panatton.”

Una foto da non perdere.

Caterina Russo

Only 2.5% of Italy’s population could speak the Italian standardized language properly when the nation unified in 1861. Eighteen sixty-one. The USA, always touted as a ‘new’ nation, was almost a hundred years old by this time.

Italian is part of the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family, and is related most closely to the other two Italo-Dalmatian languages, Sicilian and the extinct Dalmatian.

Belli tutti, ma l’acchiappasogni…

Italian lexical similarity to Latin is 90%.

French is 88%. Catalan 85%, with Sardinian 82%, with Spanish and Portuguese 78%, with Rhaeto-Romance and Romanian 77%.

A gnocca!

Knowledge of Italian according to EU statistics

Sei un bel fiore. Ti chiami il Fibonacci.

Ti sembro una che se le deve far spiegare le cose?

Italian is spoken by a minority in Monaco and France (especially in the southeast of the country and Corsica).

Small Italian-speaking minorities can also be found in Albania and Montenegro.

Ti ho taggato perchè Ezio mi aveva accennato della tua passione per le gocce!

Due to heavy Italian influence during the Italian colonial period, Italian is still widely understood in the countries of Libya and Eritrea.

Although it was the primary language of Libya under colonial rule, Italian greatly declined under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi, who expelled the Italian Libyan population and made Arabic the sole official language of the country.

Ragazzi è stato un piacere e un onore conoscervi.. addioooooooooooo!

Italian remains an important language in the education and economic sectors in Libya.

In Eritrea, Italian is a principal language in commerce and the capital city Asmara still has an Italian-language school.

Italian was also introduced in Somalia through colonialism and was the sole official language of administration and education during the colonial period but declined after government, educational and economic infrastructure was destroyed in the Somali Civil War.

Italian was also used in administration in Ethiopia when the country was briefly occupied by Italy from 1936 to 1941.

Although over 17 million Americans are of Italian descent, only a little over one million people in the United States speak Italian at home, but an Italian language media market does exist in the US.

In Canada, Italian is the second most spoken non-official language when Chinese dialects are not combined, with over 660,000 speakers (or about 2.1% of the population) according to the 2006 Census.

Si qualunque contatto reale è pù importante di altri virtuali, ciao Anthea, grazie e buona serata !

In Australia, Italian is the second most spoken foreign language after the Chinese languages, with 1.4% of the population speaking it as their home language.

Italian immigrants to South America have also brought a presence of the language to the continent.

Italian is the second most spoken language in Argentina after the official language of Spanish, with 1.5 million speaking it natively, and Italian has also heavily influenced the dialect of Spanish spoken in Argentina and Uruguay,which is called Rioplatense Spanish (from Rio Plata).

Siamo i migliori.

Small Italian-speaking minorities on the continent are also found in Uruguay, Venezuela and Brazil.

Italian is widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first foreign language. Italian is considered the fourth- or fifth-most frequently taught foreign language in the world.

According to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, every year there are more than 200,000 foreign students that are learning Italian language, distributed in the 90 Institutes of Italian Culture in the world, in the 179 Italian schools abroad and in the 111 Italian sections that are open into foreign schools.

In the United States, Italian is the fourth most taught foreign language after Spanish, French and German, in that order (or the fifth if American Sign Language is considered).

In central-eastern Europe Italian is first in Albania and Montenegro, second in Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, and Ukraine after English, and third in Hungary, Romania and Russia after English and German.

Throughout the world, Italian is the fifth most taught foreign language, after English, French, German, and Spanish.

Italian is spoken as a native language by 13% of the European Union population, or 65 million people, mainly in Italy.

In the European Union, Italian is spoken as a second language by 3% of the EU population, or 14 million people.

In addition, among EU states, the Italian language is most likely to be learned as a second language in Malta by 61% of the population,

as well as in Slovenia by 15% of the population,

in Croatia by 14% of the population,

in Austria by 11% of the population,

Romania by 8% of the population, and in France and Greece by 6% of the population.

Italian is also one of the national languages of Switzerland, which is not a part of the European Union.

The Italian language is well-known and studied in Albania, another non-EU member, due to its historical ties and geographical proximity to Italy.

During the Renaissance, Italy held artistic sway over the rest of Europe. All educated European gentlemen were expected to make the Grand Tour, visiting Italy to see its great historical monuments and works of art. It thus became expected that educated Europeans should learn at least some Italian.

During the Elizabethan period, especially, there was a strong Italian influence on English cultural life. Think of all the Italian plots in Shakespeare.

Vedi che non si sta poi così male a Malta!

In Florence, which I have always admired above all others because of the elegance, not just of its tongue, but also of its wit, I lingered for about two months. There I at once became the friend of many gentlemen eminent in rank and learning, whose private academies I frequented — a Florentine institution which deserves great praise not only for promoting humane studies but also for encouraging friendly intercourse. John Milton Defensio Secunda

In England, Italian became the second most common modern language to be learned, after French (though the classical languages, Latin and Greek, came first).

In the Catholic Church, of course, Italian is known by a large part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and is used in substitution for Latin in some official documents.

I was raised as a Catholic from birth, so these languages, Italian and Latin were second languages for me, because I served mass (which was in Latin then) from a very early age.

Un capolavoro

I liked Latin and Italian, because they are musical and sonorous.

Part of the beauty of these languages is that they follow every consonant with a vowel, so that the language sings.

There are other consonant vowel languages, though (Japanese comes to mind), and they don’t quite sing the way Italian does.

The presence of Italian as the primary language in the Vatican indicates use, not only within the Holy See, but also throughout the world where an episcopal seat is present.

Italian is the principal language, of course, in music and opera.

Throughout Italy, regional variations of Standard Italian, called Regional Italian are spoken.

In Italy, almost all Romance languages spoken as the vernacular, other than standard Italian and distantly-related, non-Romance languages spoken in border regions or among immigrant communities, are often imprecisely called “Italian dialects,” even though they are quite different, with some belonging to different branches of the Romance language family.

The only exceptions to this are Sardinian, Ladin and Friulan, which the law recognizes as official regional languages.

The Corsican language is also related to Italian.

La nonnina…carina.

Regional differences can be recognized by various factors: the openness of vowels, the length of the consonants, and influence of the local language (for example, in informal situations the contraction annà replaces andare in the area of Rome for the infinitive “to go”; and nare is what Venetians say for the infinitive “to go”).

In Italian, as in most Romance languages and even English, cases exist for pronouns (nominative, oblique, accusative and dative) but not for nouns.

There are two genders (masculine and feminine).

Nouns, adjectives, and articles inflect for gender and number (singular and plural).

Adjectives are sometimes placed before their noun and sometimes after. For an English speaking person, this is a very confusing area in Italian, French, Spanish, Portugues and the rest.

Adjectives usually come after the noun in Italian. Adjectives can be feminine or masculine, singular or plural, depending on the gender and number of the noun to which they refer. La folla felice The happy crowd

In English, we almost always put the adjective before the noun (she’s a good woman), but in Italian, eh?, there are some guidelines but practice and hearing a native, as always, are best. Generally speaking, if the adjective is short and very common, it can go before the noun, but these have to be learned on a case by case basis.

Subject nouns generally come before the verb. Subjective pronouns are usually dropped, their presence implied by verbal inflections.

Siete belle e giovane!

Noun objects come after the verb, as do pronoun objects after imperative verbs and infinitives, but otherwise pronoun objects come before the verb.

There are numerous contractions of prepositions with subsequent articles, maybe more than in any other daughter of Latin. Della, della, nello, nella, colla, collo and on and on.

There are numerous productive suffixes for diminutive, augmentative, pejorative, attenuating and the like, which are also used to create nelogisms. Maybe Italian is richer in these, too, than any of her sisters.

Many names in Italian began as the endings of longer, more ‘proper’ names.

The artist Masaccio? He was born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone 1421-1428 CE. Then his name Tommasso was shortened to Maso, and then a big, ugly augmentive ending was appended, so he became Masaccio, the only name we know him by. Big old Tom.

His principal collaborator was another Tom, another Maso, but this man was called Masolino, the opposite of Masaccio. Little, delicate, sprightly Tom. Big, ugly Tom did all of the paintings. That was his revenge.

In Italian, there are three regular sets of verbal conjugations, and various verbs are irregularly conjugated.

The most ancient text in a ‘langue romane’ is a veronese riddle. It reads like this

Se pareba boves (they rounded up their cattle)

alba pralia araba (they were plowing on a white field)

albo versorio tenebra (they had a white plow)

negro semen seminaba (they sowed black seed)

The solution: This is about the hand that is writing, because… the boves (oxen) are the fingers, the white field is the parchment, the fingers had a white plow (the goose quill) and the black seed is the ink going on to the parchment.

OK, this riddle is not deathless humor, but it is the first thing written in the vernacular in Italian (as opposed to Vulgar Latin).

Tu e tua figlia

A dialect isn’t somehow inferior to a language. A dialect is a language. Italian, Spanish and French are languages because they have acquired a prestige in becoming literary languages and they are official languages of state, but Sicilian, Neapolitan, Picard, Tuscan, Friulian, these dialects are all languages too.

Articolo determinativo (definite article)
lo: for masculine singular nouns beginning with z or s+consonant Lo schiavo.
The plural is gli. Lo specchietto retrovisore rear view mirror

Il: for masculine singular nouns beginning with all other consonants
plural=i Ma sei sempre in giro per il mondo? Are you still touring the world?

l’: for masculine singular nouns beginning with any vowel
plural=gli l’anatroccolo brutto the ugly duckling

La classe , la raffinatezza..Superlativa Billie Holiday.

la: for feminine singular nouns beginning with any consonant
plural=le

l’: for feminine singular, beginning with any vowel
plural=le L’amica del cuore

articolo indeterminativo (indefinite article; singular only)
una: for feminine nouns beginning with any consonant una donna

un’: for feminine nouns beginning with any vowel un’antologia

uno: for masculine nouns beginning with z or s+consonant Uno scherzo A joke

un: for all other masculine nouns Giorgio è sempre Giorgio. È un musicista.

Adjectives that end in “a” are usually feminine and form the plural with “e.” La coppia capricciosa The capricious couple

Adjectives that end in “o” are masculine and form the plural with “i.” Come mi disse una volta mia madre, Pa stai impazzendo!

Adjectives that end in “e” can be masculine or feminine and in either case form the plural with “i.” Janis in questa foto è davvero dolce, è dolcissima.

Adjectives that end in “ista” can be masculine or feminine, and they form the plural in the regular way–with “i” if masculine, with “e” if feminine: L’artista è un uomo.

The adjectives of color beige, blu, rosa, and viola are invariable. They stay the same wherever they are.

Certain common short adjectives normally precede the noun: bello, brutto, buono, cattivo, giovane, grande, nuovo, piccolo, vecchio.

The adjective “buono” follows the pattern of the indefininite articles un artista>>un buon artista

uno zaino>>un buono zaino

uno specchio>>un buono specchio

una artista>>una buona artista

un’amica>>una buon’amica

The adjectives “quello” and “bello” follow the pattern of the definite articles l’uomo>>un bell’uomo/quell’uomo

lo scherzo>>un bello scherzo/quello scherzo

l’amante>>un bell’amante/quell’amante

gli animali>>dei begli animali/quegli animali

gli studenti>>dei begli studenti/quegli studenti

gli amici>>dei begli amici/quegli amici

la Veronica>>la bella Veronica/quella Veronica

l’amica>>la bell’amica/quell’amica

le donne>>le belle donne/quelle donne

le ampolle>>le belle ampolle/quelle ampolle (cruets)

There are three classes, or conjugations, of verbs in Italian, according to the last three letters of their infinitive: ”-are,” “-ere,” and “-ire”

A few infinitives end in –rre, such as trarre, porre, and derivatives.

Dovresti essere fiero dei colori della mia maglia! You should be proud of the colors on my jersey!

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. They do not agree with the word which they modify.

Many adverbs are formed by adding the suffix “-mente” to the feminine singular form of the adjective. Ciao Veronica finalmente vedo il tuo visino!

Smettila di sfottere!

veloce>>velocemente; lento>>lentamente

bene=well male=badly molto=very poco=little troppo=too, too much

Lei è una donna molto brava: studia sempre!

L’Espagna è troppo lontana, vorrei andarci più spesso.

IL COMPARATIVO: There are three comparatives: di maggioranza (more than), di minoranza (less than), di uguaglianza (the same)

comparativo di maggioranza più…di più…che I supermercati americani sono più grandi che belli.

comparativo di minoranza meno…di meno…che Gli italiani bevono meno degli americani.

Use “DI“: 1.when two terms are compared with respect to one quality/action 2.in front of numbers

you use “CHE” Gli americani bevono meno cappuccino che caffé.
3.when there is one term and two qualities/actions refer to this one term
4.in front of a preposition
5.in front of an infinitive

comparativo di uguaglianza the same as Coca-Cola is as popular as it is deficient in nutritive value.

a. (così)…come or (tanto)…quanto La Coca-Cola è (tanto) popolare quanto priva di valore nutritivo.
(for adjective and adverbs: “così…come” and “tanto…quanto” are adverbs and there is no agreement)
b. (tanto)…quanto
(for nouns: here “tanto…quanto” are adjectives and there is agreement) Gli americani mangiano tanti popcorn quante patatine.
c. (tanto) quanto…
(for verbs: “(tanto)…quanto” are adverbs and there is no agreement) Gli americani bevono (tanto) quanto gli italiani.

così and tanto are optional and usually avoided

II. IL SUPERLATIVO RELATIVO The relative superlative is formed by:

the definite article (il, la, i , le) + (noun) + più/meno + adjective + di + the term in relation to which we are comparing
Le confezioni itliane sono le più grandi del mondo.

III. SUPERLATIVO ASSOLUTO is the equivalent of the English “very+adjective” and “adjective+est” or “most+adjective.” In Italian this can be expressed in several ways:

1. by adding -issimo/a/i/e at the end of an adjective I supermercati americani sono grandissimi.
2. by placing molto, tanto, parecchio, assai in front of the adjective C’è stato parecchio disagio. It was very uncomfortable.
3. by using the prefix arci-, stra-, super-, ultra- L’espresso è arcipopolare. Il cappuccino è superchic.
4. by using stock phrases such as ricco sfondato (filthy rich); ubriaco fradicio (very drunk); stanco morto (dead tired); bagnato fradicio (soaking wet); innamorato cotto (madly in love)…
5. by repeating the adjective or the adverb
6. some adjectives have irregular superlatives: acre/acerrimo; celebre/celeberrimo; integro/integerrimo; celebre/celeberrimo; misero/miserrimo; salubre/saluberrimo; in spoken language, however, people just avoid “-issimo” with these and use “molto, tanto, parecchio, assai.”

III. COMPARATIVI E SUPERLATIVI IRREGOLARI the comparative of “bene” is always “meglio“

the comparative of “buono” can be “migliore” (“più buono” can also be used)

the comparative of “male” is always “peggio“

the comparative of “cattivo” can be “peggiore” (“più cattivo” can also be used)

“maggiore” is an alternative to “più grande” (più grande=bigger maggiore=greater)

“minore” is an alternative to “più piccolo” (più piccolo=smaller minore=lesser)

Conjunctions join words and sentences together. Some conjunctions, longer ones, require the use of the subjunctive. They are:

benché, sebbene, malgrado, nonostante, quantunque (all mean: although, in spite of, even though)

purché, a patto che, a condizione che (all mean: provided that)

nel caso che (in case)

Some others require the use of the subjunctive only if the subject of the main verb and the subject of the subjunctive are different; if the subjects are the same, the infinitive is required. They are:

affinché, perché, cosicché, in modo che (in order to, so that)
senza che (without)
prima che (before)

Second person nominative pronoun is tu for informal. For formal use, the 3rd person form Lei has been used since the Renaissance. Lei is used like “Sie” in German, “Usted” in Spanish and “você” in Portuguese.

Previously, and in some Italian regions today (Campania), voi is used as a formal singular, as in the French “vous”. The pronouns lei (third-person singular) and Lei (second-person singular formal) are pronounced the same but written as shown. Formal Lei and Loro take third-person conjugations. Lei was originally an object form of ella, which in turn referred to an honorific of the feminine gender such as la magnificenza tua / vostra (“Your Magnificence”) or Vossignoria (“Your Lordship”).

These are hard times for someone who opens her heart and not her legs.

Accusative lo and la elide to l’ before a vowel or before h: l’avevo detto (“I had said it”), l’ho detto (“I have said it”).

When accusative pronouns are used in a compound tense, the final vowel of the past participle must agree in gender and number with the accusative pronoun. For example, hai comprato i cocomeri e le mele? (“Did you buy the watermelons and the apples?”) –Li [i cocomeri] ho comprati ma non le [le mele] ho comprate (“I bought them [the former] but I did not buy them [the latter]“). This also happens when the underlying pronoun is made opaque by elision: l’ho svegliato (“I woke him up”), versus L’ho svegliata (“I woke her up”).

In modern Italian, dative gli (to him) is used commonly even as plural (to them) instead of classical loro. So: “Conosci Luca: gli ho sempre detto di stare lontano dalle cattive compagnie” (You know Luca: I have always told him to stay away from bad company.”). And: “Conosci Luca e Gino: gli ho sempre detto…” (…I have always told them…) instead of “… ho sempre detto loro di stare…”.

Though objects come after the verb as a rule, this is not the case with a class of unstressed, clitic pro-forms.

Dative and accusative pronouns come before the verb. If an auxiliary verb is used, the pronouns come before the auxiliary. If both dative and accusative pronouns are used, the dative comes first. Pronominal particles ce/ci (to it) and ne (of it) are treated like accusative pronouns for word-order purposes.

Note that the clitic ci acts both as a first person plural accusative pronoun and a pro-form with a different meaning.

Davide lascia la sua penna in ufficio. David leaves his pen at the office.

Davide la lascia in ufficio. David leaves it at the office.

Davide ce la lascia. David leaves it with us.

copyright Daniela Rettore

Davide ce ne lascia una. David leaves us one of them.

Certo, la faccia sconsolata di Sam dice tutto.

Davide potrebbe lasciarcene una. David might leave us one of them. Or, could leave us one of them.

In the imperative and subjunctive moods, the objective pronouns come once again after the verb, but this time as a suffix.

Davide lascia la sua penna in ufficio. David leaves his pen in the office.

“Lasciala in ufficio.” ”Leave it at the office.”

“Lasciacela.” ”Leave it to us.”

Davide potrebbe lasciarla in ufficio. David could leave it at the office.

Non lasciarcela. Don’t leave it to us. Don’t leave it with us.

Davide dovrebbe lasciarcela. David should leave it with us.

Dative mi, ti, ci, and vi become me, te, ce, and ve when preceding another pronoun (“dammelo” (give it to me) or develop as a me, a te, a noi and a voi when emphasized (“dallo a me” (give it TO ME).

Accusative mi, ti, lo, la, ci, and vi become me, te, lui, lei, noi, and voi when emphasized (“uccidimi” (kill me) against “uccidi me, non lui” (kill me, not him).

Dative gli, le, loro (commonly gli) can be developed into a lui, a lei, a loro, when emphasized (“lo sai solo tu: a loro non l’ho detto” (only you know it: I have not told them))

Dative gli combines with accusative lo, la, li, le and ne (partitive, meaning “of it” or “of them”) to form glielo, gliela, glieli, gliele and gliene. These combinations are used for feminine and plural too (“Maria lo sa? Gliel’hai detto?” (Does Maria know it? Have you said it to her?)).

She’s too polite to say, “Gli italiani lo fanno meglio.” (Italians do it better.)

As I mentioned before, the Italian infinito presente may end by one of these three endings, either -are, -ere, or -ire. Exceptions are also possible fare ”to do/make” (from Latin facere), and verbs ending in -urre or -arre, most notably tradurre (Latin traducere) “to translate”.

Italian grammar does not have distinct forms to indicate specifically verbal aspect, though different verbal inflections and periphrases do render different aspects in particular the perfective and imperfective aspects and the perfect tense–aspect combination.

While the various inflected verbal forms convey a combinaton of tense (location in time), aspect, and mood, language-specific discussions generally refer to these inflectional forms as “tempi.” Thus it is impossible to make comparisons between the tenses of English verbs and the tempi of Italian verbs as there is no correspondence at all.

These are simple verb tenses.

Smettilaaaaaaaaa, ti prego.

Below are the compound tenses:

Impersonal verb forms:

Present tense, indicative mood, progressive aspect: io sto facendo ( I’m doing)

Present tense, indicative mood, inchoative aspect: io sto per fare (I’m about to do)

Oooohhh, che belliniiiii.

The simple preterite is becoming obsolete in spoken Italian (as in French and High German).

In ordinary conversation, one uses instead, the present perfect. Ho fatto not feci. I have done not I did.

The preterite (in some languages called the simple past) is still used in Southern Italy but is becoming less common there, too.

The preterite is, however, very common in literature, even modern literature. This is the same in French.

If there is no reference to the present, as when speaking of the dead, the simple preterite must be used.

Che gnocca.

In Italian, compound tenses are formed with an auxiliary verb (either essere ”to be” or avere ”to have”).

Transitive verbs use avere as their auxiliary verb. Verbs in the passive voice use essere or venire, with a different meaning. la porta è stata aperta, the door has been opened. La porta viene aperta, the door is being opened.

For intransitive verbs a useful rule of thumb is that if a verb’s past participle have adjectival value, essere is used, otherwise use avere.

Also, reflexive verbs and unaccusative verbs use essere (typically non-agentive verbs of motion and change of state, such as, involuntary actions like cadere (to fall) or morire (to die)). This is the same in French. We learned it as verbs of motion use essere (être) in compound tenses.

In French and Italian, the distinction between the two auxiliary verbs is important for the correct formation of the compound tenses and is essential to the agreement of the past participle. Some verbs use both avere and essere (such as vivere to live). In recent past tense you can say io ho vissuto or io sono vissuto (I have lived).

Magnifica come sempre.

It is probably necessary to repeat here, an eternal truth of language learning: The best, absolutely best way to learn Italian is to come out of an Italian mother’s womb and live with her for seven years or so.

The next best way to learn Italian is to live in Italy for ten years and learn, learn, learn.

Any other way to learn Italian, besides total immersion, will never get you quite there. Every linguist knows this, BUT we can’t all have la mamma and we can’t all live there for ten years, so this is how we amuse ourselves in the meantime.

Italian has inherited the consecutio temporum, a grammar rule from Latin that disciplines the relationship between the tenses in subordinate sentences.

Consecutio temporum has rules that govern the subjunctive tense in order to express contemporaneity, posteriority and anteriority in relation to the principal sentence. French and Spanish follow these same rules, which are often titled agreement of the tenses, or some such similar phrase.

• to express contemporaneity when the principal clause is in a simple tense (future, present, or simple past,) the subordinate clause uses the present subjunctive, to express contemporaneity in the present.
  • Penso che Davide Galassi sia intelligente. I think David Galassi is smart.
  • 
• when the principal clause has a past imperfect or perfect, the subordinate clause uses the imperfect subjunctive, expressing contemporaneity in the past.
  • Pensavo che Davide fosse intelligente. I thought David was smart.
  • 
• to express anteriority when the principal clause is in a simple tense (Future, or present or passato prossimo) the subordinate clause uses the past subjunctive.
  • Penso che Davide sia stato intelligente. I think David has been smart.
  • 
• to express anteriority when the principal clause has a past imperfect or perfect, the subjunctive has to be pluperfect.
  • Pensavo che Davide fosse stato intelligente. I thought David had been smart.
  • 
• to express posteriority the subordinate clause uses not subjunctive but indicative mood, because the subjunctive has no future tense.
  • Penso che Davide sarà intelligente. I think David will be smart.
  • 
• to express posteriority with respect to a past event, the subordinate clause uses the past conditional, whereas in other European languages (such as French, English, and Spanish) the present conditional is used.
  • Pensavo che Davide sarebbe stato intelligente. I thought that David would have been smart.
  • 
• Some third conjugation verbs such as capire insert -isc- between the stem and the endings in the present. Capisco, capisci, capisce It is impossible to tell from the infinitive form which verbs exhibit this phenomenon, which often originated in Latin verbs denoting the “inchoative” aspect of an action, that is, verbs describing the beginning of an action.
• 
• There are some 500 verbs like this, the first ones in alphabetic order being abbellire, abolire, agire, alleggerire, ammattire and on through the alphabet.
• 
• In some grammatical systems, “isco” verbs are considered a fourth conjugation, often labelled 3b.
• 
• There are also certain verbs that end in -rre, namely trarre, porre, (con)durre and derived verbs with different prefixes (such as attrarre, comporre, dedurre, and so forth). They are derived from earlier trahere, ponere, ducere and are conjugated as such.

The Italian subjunctive mood is used, as in other languages, to indicate cases of desire, express doubt, make impersonal emotional statements, and to talk about impeding events.

The subjunctive in many European languages is formed in the ‘opposite’ way from the indicative. So, if you have an -are verb like cantare, she sings is canta, but in the subjunctive, may she sing, or it is good that she sing, or may she sing forever, is cante. The -are verbs appear like -ere verbs in the subjunctive. So it was in Latin so it is in all of Latin’s daughters.

When we say Viva México, we are using a subjunctive. The indicative mood for to live in Spanish is vivir. México lives is México vive. But to make a wish Long Live Mexico, we use the subjunctive Viva México.

It’s the same in English. You just don’t realize it because it is your native language. We say Mexico lives alongside the United States, but when we want to make a wish for a long life for our sisters and brothers over the border, we say Long live Mexico. Lives is the normal indicative verb and live is the subjunctive which is expressing, as it often does, a wish, a desire, a hope, a conjecture.

Maybe we should just look at some sentences in Italian that use the subjuctive. Here’s one: Credevo che avessero ragione. I believed that they were right.

The subjunctive is used because the speaker believes, thinks that they were right. If the speaker said, I knew they were right, she would use the indicative.

There is always a hesitancy, a doubt, an unsureness about the subjunctive. I have been spiritually in the subjunctive all my life. I’ve never been sure of anything. I see both sides to any given question. That is why I wrote Combination of the Two.

The subjunctive is so called because there is a main clause, often in the indicative, and then another clause is subjoined to the main clause. In Italian, the subjunctive is called congiuntivo (conjunctive). Same thing. There is a main clause and then the next clause is conjoined to it.

I wish (main clause) that you WOULDN’T BE so hasty (subjoined clause with subjunctive verb mood).

Penso che sia un bel film = I think it is a beautiful film. We use the indicative in both clauses in English, but in Italian they use the subjunctive in the second clause because a personal opinion is being expressed.

È sicuramente un bel film = It is surely a beautiful film. Here there is a sureness, so the indicative is used. My bass player Peter Albin lives in the indicative. Everything with him is certain and there is very little doubt or hesitation. This kind of certainty is just what you want in a bass player. I am the opposite. Everything with me is in doubt. I live in the subjunctive mood.

Spero che lui/lei mi telefoni. = I hope he/she will phone me (personal wish)

Vorrei che tu fossi qui. = I wish you were here.

Affinché la nostra storia continui, dobbiamo parlare = In order for our relationship to continue, we need to talk (purpose)

Mmmm, chi ha fatto questa bella foto?

Voglio che tu venga qui = I want you to come here. (wish, command) Note that in English we use the infinitive instead of the subjunctive.

È bello che Paolo venga qui = It is wonderful that Paul come here (impersonal). We don’t use the subjunctive nearly as much in English as they do in Italian.

The “congiuntivo” is also required with particular expressions such as:

• Impersonal forms » è necessario che, bisogna che, è importante che… tu venga al cinema – it’s necessary that, it’s important that… you come to the movie
• Comparative clauses » è il film più interessante che abbia visto – it is the most interesting movie that I saw
• Sentences introduced by » affinché – perché (so that), tranne che (a part that), a meno che (unless), sebbene – malgrado – nonostante (altough), purché – a patto che(provided that), come se (as if)
• Sentences introduced by the adjectives or pronouns » qualsiasi – qualunque (any),chiunque (whoever), dovunque (anywhere)
• Sentences introduced by the adjectives or pronouns » niente che – nulla che(nothing that), nessuno che (nobody that), l’unico/a che – il solo/a che (the only one that)

The conditional mood refers to an action that is possible or likely, but is dependent upon a condition.

Io andrei in spiaggia, ma fa troppo freddo. I would go to the beach, but it is too cold.

Mangerei un sacco adesso, se non stessi di fare colpo su queste ragazze. I would eat a lot now if I weren’t trying to impress these girls.

Many Italian speakers often use the imperfect instead of the conditional and subjunctive. While incorrect, this is somewhat tolerated in spoken Italian (rarely in written Italian, even if it used to be a correct form in past times).

Se lo sapeveo, andavo al mare. If I had known it, I’d have gone to the beach. (If I was knowing it, I was going to the beach.)

Sempre in giro, eh!

The Imperative mood, or, the command form:

The verb ‘to be’ is irregular in many languages (even English!) and Italian is no exception: essere

This is to give you an idea of how very different the dialects in Italy can be. To designate what the French would call ‘un jeune garçon,’ the usual word in Italian is ragazzo or bambino.

This is what the ‘jeune garçon’ is called in different places on the peninsula: in the Piedmont region, up north at the foot of the Alps, the ‘jeune garçon’ is called a cit.

In Lombardia, the ‘jeune garçon’ is a bagai.

In Venice, the word for a young boy is toso or putelo.

In Friulia, up north at the top of the Adriatic Sea, where a lovely town called Udine is, the local word for ‘young boy’ is frut.

‘Jeune garçon’ in the dialect of Emilia-Romagna is burdel.

In Tuscany, land of Dante, Petrarca, Bocaccio, and so many other immortals, that same ‘jeune garçon’ (young boy) is called a bimbo. There is a famous club in San Francisco, where we have all played a few times, called Bimbo’s.

It is crazy, insensitive and grammatically wrong to call a woman a bimbo, which is a very masculine word, both in form and meaning.

Quatraro is the word for a young boy in the Abruzzese dialect. This is only one word we are tracing here. See how different it is in each dialect? Almost all of the other words vary this much also, so you can see why people found each other incomprehensible once Italy was unified. Now, television, radio, cinema, Facebook, Twitter, newspapers… all of these contribute to the formation of a national language, and the old ways are disappearing.

In Naples a young boy is often called a guaglione. Do you know where the word Wop came from? The Spanish ruled Naples for a long time, a couple of centuries at least. They looked at the children in Naples and saw that they were very handsome, so they called them that. ’Handsome’ in Spanish is guapo. The word became so general a designation for the Italians that it was taken over at Ellis Island. Wop became a perjorative term for an Italian.

A ‘jeune garçon’ in Sicily is called a picciotto or a caruso. These are just a few of the regions of Italy.

Il confine tra passione e romanticismo può essere molto labile.

Noi stiamo bene. Dai speriamo di incontrarci.

I used to have a book of Italian proverbs from every region, in the language of that region, and then ‘translated’ into Standard Italian. That book was a joy and very informative. Somehow I let it slip through my fingers, and I have been trying to find it ever since.

The top ten pizzas of Italy. I am a vegetarian, so I like the Margherita. Italians always laugh at Californians because we have things like tofu and pineapple on pizzas, but I notice that there at the number ten spot they have a pizza with fruit, cream and Nutella on it, so…

Ora più che mai…

Sam Andrew Castelleto Cervo Italia foto: Laura Albergante Visconti La Laura è sconvolgente. Una vera bellezza.

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