Learning Italian: Cultural Heritage to Discover

The Italian language is one of the most beautiful and fascinating in the world, but its charm goes beyond its intrinsic beauty. In addition to its peculiarities, there is a history rooted in Latin that makes Italian even more fascinating and precious for anyone who studies it.

The influence of the Latin language on Italian

The Italian language, like Spanish, French, Portuguese, Romanian, and other minor languages, belongs to the linguistic group of the Romance languages (also called Neo-Latin languages), derived from the Latin spoken in ancient Rome. Thanks to their common origin, all these languages have many points of affinity both with each other and with Latin. However, over the centuries, each of them has evolved independently through interaction with different people and cultures.

The influence of Latin on the Italian language has been extremely significant, mainly for historical-geographical reasons: ancient Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, was located at the center of the Italian peninsula, facilitating human contacts between the inhabitants of that territory and thus shaping the lexicon, grammar, and phonetics of Italian. All Romance languages have undergone a similar influence, although linguists usually distinguish them between the more conservative (Italian and Spanish) and the more innovative (French and Romanian).

Because of the territorial extension of the Roman Empire and the important legacy left in humanity’s history, the cultural influences of the Latin language can even be found in languages derived from completely different language families. To give but an example, consider that in Hungarian, a Finno-Ugric language, the informal greeting “szervusz” sounds exactly like the Latin greeting “servus (tuus),” literally “(your) servant” but with the meaning of “hello.”

False friends: what are they?

This also implies points of attention to be paid when studying a language. In fact, the Latin origins of many English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese words may have taken on different meanings in different languages over time. It is the phenomenon of so-called “false friends,” i.e., words which, despite the similarity in form between two different languages, have different or even opposite meanings. These words can create misunderstandings in translation processes or in learning a foreign language and, therefore, require particular attention in their understanding and use.

False friends examples

For example, the English adjective “terrific,” which recalls the Italian “terrificante” (in English “scary”), translates as “formidabile” or “straordinario.” Similarly, the English noun “rumour” recalls the Italian “rumore” (in English, “noise”), but the real meaning is rather “diceria.” Both “terrific” and “rumour” have a Latin etymology, but the original meaning of the words evolved independently in Italian and English. To give some examples in French, the noun “limon” (from the Latin “limus”) brings to mind the fruit “limone” (in English “lemon”), but its correct meaning is instead “fango” (in English, “mud”); again in French, the verb “fermer” (from the Latin “firmare”) recalls the Italian “fermare” (in English, “to stop”), but the correct meaning is instead “chiudere” (in English, “to close”).

Learning Italian will open up a new world

Studying Italian allows us to immerse ourselves in a language rich in history and culture, appreciating the beauty and diversity of this fascinating language. Furthermore, it offers a deeper look into one’s native language and the chance to connect people through common roots in Latin, thus making the learning experience even more rewarding and meaningful.

Studying a new language is a fascinating journey. Lucky those who have the desire and will to start it!