24
Italian Language:
A kiss is not always just a kiss
A travel into the language of the “Bel Paese”.
Give me a “Potin” or give me a “vasata”. Where do you use these words? I'll tell you right now: inItaly. “Potin” and “vasata” are just two of the many examples of dialect words in use in the variousItalian regions. In this occasion I took as an example the Italian word “bacio” (kiss)to stress the language gap existing between different Italian regions. “Potin” and “vasata” mean “bacio” (kiss) respectively in the regions of Valle d'Aosta and Sicily.
But where does the word “bacio” come from? Like in most cases, the answer comes from the Latin, specifically from the Latin word basĭu (m), which subsequently became “bascio” to reach then its present form. In Italythis word can be used in predetermined phrases. For example, if you want to say that two people are kissing with a lot of enthusiasm, you can say that they are “mangiando o coprendo di baci” (eating or covering themselves with kisses).
elbows)" ifthey were in a covetedbut impossible situation, as is the act of kissing our own elbows. An example: “se avessi quella villa al mare, mi bacere i gomiti”(If I’d own that villa over the sea, I'd kiss my elbows), as to say that affording to have that villa by the sea is an impossible event.
Another curiosity: in Sicily and other parts of the South there was the costume of kissing handsto people considered of a higher rank in social, economic andpoliticalterms. As time went by the costume of kissing handsjust stopped, but the phrase “baciamo le mani” (I/we kiss your hand) became of ordinary usage asan expression to greet a person with reverence and respect, and today it is particularly used in an ironic way, if you want to emphasize someone’s disdainful behavior.
In a figurative sense we often use another expression, namely “il bacio di Giuda” (Judas kiss), in order torefer to flatteries trying to hide a betrayal. And what does it mean if someone tells you that a thing or an action is successful “al bacio”? It means that everything went perfectlyaccording to plan.
People could then eventually “baciarsi i gomiti” (kiss their own elbows)" ifthey were in a covetedbut impossible situation, as is the act of kissing our own elbows. An example: “se avessi quella villa al mare, mi bacere i gomiti”(If I’d own that villa over the sea, I'd kiss my elbows), as to say that affording to have that villa by the sea is an impossible event.