Hi folks,
In lesson 5.1 (Domestic), we are introduced to a new alternative word for cute or expensive: caruccio. Unfortunately it isn't listed in the transcripts, so I had to guess the spelling from Maria's pronunciation.
Strangely, when I tried to look up this word in several dictionaries, I found to my surprise that it wasn't listed anywhere - even in a pure Italian dictionary written for italians! Why is that? Is it considered to be slang, for example?
In the end, the only place I could find it (to finally confirm my spelling) was to do a search on Google!
Very strange!
Cheers,
Butch
Caruccio
Caro Butch,
you have a good point!
Not even in the best Italian dictionary you could find "caruccio"..
Caruccio comes from "caro" (dear or expensive/ pleasant)
and "caro" comes from the Latin "carus".
The reason why we don't find the word "caruccio" in dictionaries is because in Italian we can change, slightly the meaning of a word (noun/adjectvive/adverb) by adding a suffix to the original word.
Common suffix:
....uccio/a (to make things small)
.....ino/ina (to make things small)
.....issimo/issima (to make superlative)
.....accio/a (for pejorative)
.....one (to make it big)
Examples:
Caro - becomes: caruccio(rather expensive)- carissimo(extremely expensive)
Bello - becomes: belluccio/bellino(rather beautiful)-
bellissimo(extremely beautiful), bellone( big and beautiful).
Macchina becomes: macchinina or macchinuccia (small car)
macchinaccia(horrible/old car), macchinone(big car)
Vaa bene?
A presto!
you have a good point!
Not even in the best Italian dictionary you could find "caruccio"..
Caruccio comes from "caro" (dear or expensive/ pleasant)
and "caro" comes from the Latin "carus".
The reason why we don't find the word "caruccio" in dictionaries is because in Italian we can change, slightly the meaning of a word (noun/adjectvive/adverb) by adding a suffix to the original word.
Common suffix:
....uccio/a (to make things small)
.....ino/ina (to make things small)
.....issimo/issima (to make superlative)
.....accio/a (for pejorative)
.....one (to make it big)
Examples:
Caro - becomes: caruccio(rather expensive)- carissimo(extremely expensive)
Bello - becomes: belluccio/bellino(rather beautiful)-
bellissimo(extremely beautiful), bellone( big and beautiful).
Macchina becomes: macchinina or macchinuccia (small car)
macchinaccia(horrible/old car), macchinone(big car)
Vaa bene?
A presto!
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