Ayarse or airarse [to get angry], airado [irate], etc., airarsi, adirarsi, etc., to be added [4012] to what I said elsewhere [→Z 3828] about ancient Latin iror aris. And see if the Glossary has anything on adirari, irari, etc. (11 Jan., Sunday, 1824.)
I do not remember what I was speaking about, when I said elsewhere [→Z 2789, 2918–19] that we are used to using masculine singular adjectives in the form of adverbs. Likewise the Spanish, e.g., demasiado for demasiadamente [too, too much] (which I think is said as well), infinito (Don Quixote, § 1, ch. 49) for infinitamente [infinitely] (which is also used I think), etc. Mainly in old, that is good and authentic, Spanish, the same may be said too for Italian in which this use is more characteristic of ancient Italian, and so today is particularly familiar to poets, etc. So too French fort for fortement, in the sense of molto [very] (so too our forte, etc.). It seems however that this use is much more frequent in Italian, above all ancient, good, poetic, elegant Italian, etc., than in any kind of Spanish, and above all in French. (12 Jan. 1824.)
The practice of putting plural genitives, instead of nominatives, with the pronoun alcuni, or of replacing this pronoun with plural genitives, in which case the phrase would be elliptical. Very proper among the French, extremely proper in Italian writers as well, not only modern and Gallicized ones as is generally thought, but in ancient writers, of all ages, and the best and purest. I believe as well in Spanish writers. I think I have said elsewhere that this usage is a pure Grecism [→Z 3561, 3907]. Now add the example of Lucian, Nigrinus, Opera, Amsterdam 1687, tome 1, p. 34, ll. 15–16, and see the Greek grammarians where they speak about Syntax, who certainly must have something on this kind of phrase, etc. (12 Jan. 1824.) In the quoted example “τῶν φιλοσοφεῖν προσποιουμένων” [“of those feigning to pursue knowledge”] the τινὰς [some] is evidently suppressed, in the way we and the French do. (12 Jan. 1824.) See again Lucian himself, 1, 178, ll. 25–26, where τὶ or τινὰ [some] are understood.
Positivized Greek diminutives. ὀχεῖον [cart] from ὄχος εος [carriage, chariot], like ἀγγεῖον [vessel] from ἄγγος εος [vessel, vat]. (12 Jan. 1824.)
[4013] On the subject of what I said elsewhere [→Z 64–65, 112, 2486] about the different ways of representing the integrity and goodness of men in different nations and languages and ages, according to differences in their customs, opinions, characters, institutions, lives, and constitutions, notice that just as the Romans said frugi [honest, useful], the Greeks, besides καλὸς κ' ἀγαθός, said χρηστὸς which really means utile [useful] (and it is used in this sense too, etc., see the Dictionaries), and for the opposite meaning ἄχρηστος, which really is inutile [useless] and so in ordinary speech was used for cattivo [bad] as well, etc. (See the Dictionaries, and the other compounds and words derived from χρηστός.) And rightly so, because the usefulness of people must have been valued highly by the Greeks too, who lived, as the Romans did, in a free state, etc., as I said in relation to the word frugi when I mentioned it before [→Z 65]. (12 January 1824.)
That perfects in ui come from ones in avi or evi or ivi even though they are not found, as I said elsewhere [→Z 3698, 3716–17, 3849, 3853–54] and it is the same with the third conjugation, where such an ending (like the one in ivi, or any other in vi), is always anomalous, see Forcellini under pono is [to place] and on the ancient forms posivi, apposivi, etc., for posui, apposui, etc. (13 Jan. 1824.)
To what I have said elsewhere [→Z 2280–81, 3182] about mescolare [to mix], etc., add rimescolare [to mix again], etc., and the compounds and derivatives of both, etc. (13 Jan. 1824.)
Aeolic digamma. Levis or laevis from λεῖος [smooth], as can be seen in the notes on Lucian, Opera, tome 1, p. 113, note 9. (14 Jan. 1824.)
Italian frequentative or diminutive verbs, etc. Abbrostire, abbrostolire, abbrustolare, abbrustiare [to roast]. (14 Jan. 1824.) Bezzicare [to peck].
Positivized Greek diminutives. ῞Οριον, οὕρια, μεθόριον, μεσούριον from ὅρος [boundary]. (14 Jan. 1824.)
[4014] “Tacendo / Un gran piacer” (that is, s’egli è taciuto), “non è piacer intero” [“Saying nothing about a great pleasure” (that is, if it is not spoken), “is not full pleasure”]. Machiavelli, Asino d’oro, Chapter 4, ll. 86–87.1 (14 Jan. 1824.)
Senza’altro puntello [without other support] for senz’alcun puntello [without any support]. Machiavelli, Asino d’oro, Chapter 5, penultimate line. On this kind of idiom, elsewhere [→Z 3885, 4000, 4010–11]. (14 Jan. 1824.) See below.2
Senz’altra (senz’alcuna) disciplina [without other (without any) discipline], ibid., chapter 8, l. 41. (15 Jan. 1824.)
Aeolic digamma. Viscum [mistletoe, birdlime] (rare Viscus) from ἰξὸς [mistletoe] with metathesis of the letters κσ included in the ξ. Note that the breathing is smooth, and the gender (at least in the case of viscum) changed, as in οἶνος–vinum [wine], etc. Vivo [I live] from βιῶ (βιϝῶ). Forcellini and note on Lucian, Opera, 1687, tome 1, p. 143, note 3. (15 Jan. 1824.)
To add to what I said elsewhere [→Z 3515, 3557], that sometimes Latin cul changes to Italian gli (as in periculum–periglio [danger], etc.), to French il, etc., Spanish j, etc., the same may be said for gul. See if you will p. 4005, paragraph 2, in the margin to number 1. (15 Jan. 1824.)
For p. 2779, line 1. From βόρος or βορὸς, etc., vorax [greedy], etc. See Scapula and Forcellini. From βιῶ vivo [I live]. See paragraph 3 on this page. In the notes cited vis [strength] is said to come from βιὰ as well, which speaking elsewhere3 about the Aeolic digamma, I said came, and it does seem preferable, from ἲς ἰνὸς [sinew, strength]. See Forcellini, etc. (15 Jan. 1824.)
Concerning the Italian verb rotolare [to roll], frequentative or diminutive, etc., of rotare [to rotate], (rotolone [roll], etc.), of which I think I spoke elsewhere [→Z 1241], observe French rouler. If this verb with its many derivatives (or even some original words appearing earlier than it), see the Dictionary, and with the word rôle [role] and its derivatives (ruotolo or rotolo [roll]) are not originally Italian, since we have ruolo, arruolare, etc., from the French, it follows that the Latin diminutive in ol or ul must have been in some sense French, not only Italian as shown elsewhere [→Z 3869–70, 3993–94, 4003], since these French words do not seem to have come directly from Latin. See however Forcellini, the Glossary, etc. They are certainly originally diminutive or frequentative, etc. Rouler is frequentative even today in a certain sense, etc. (15 Jan. 1824.)
[4015] As the preposition sub in a compound word often denotes sursum [upward], or else di sotto in su [from below], which I have mentioned elsewhere [→Z 3003] in relation to sustollo [to take up], etc. See in Forcellini the definition and the examples of subduco [to take up from below], which could not prove the point more clearly or completely. (16 Jan. 1824.)
Errato for errante [in error], as in andar errato [to be wrong], etc. See the Crusca. And in Spanish ir errado (Cervantes), pensamiento errado (ibid.), etc. With us however errare is for the most part neuter (although we say errar la strada [to go the wrong way], etc.) and I think it is in Spanish too. Forcellini calls it active. See Erratus for qui erravit [who was wrong] in the same entry on erro [I wander, I mistake] end, and see the same Forcellini under Certatus a um [having struggled]. (16 Jan. 1824.) Impransus, incoenatus [without having lunched, dined], etc. See Forcellini. Add to what I said elsewhere [→Z 2841–42] about pransus, coenatus, etc., and similarly their other compounds, if there are any. (16 Jan. 1824.)
Redundancy of the pronoun altro and ἄλλος [other], very common in Italian and in Greek, as mentioned elsewhere [→Z 2892, 3588, 4000]. Similarly otro in Spanish. Cervantes, Don Quixote, part 1, ch. 51. “Cerca de aqui tengo mi majada, y en ella tengo fresca leche, y muy sabrosissimo queso, con otras varias y sazonadas frutas, no menos a la vista que al gusto agradables” [“My hut is close by, and I have fresh milk and delicious cheese there, as well as a variety of r
ipe fruit, no less pleasing to the eye than to the palate”].1 (16 Jan. 1824.) They are the last words of the chapter.
To what I have said elsewhere [→Z 2843–45, 3928] about avvedere–avvisare [to inform], etc., add Spanish divisar [to discern] (Don Quixote, part 1, ch. 51, and see the Dictionaries) and note that we, etc., have divedere as well. And that the participle visus, from which we have avvisare, divisare [to consider], etc. (unless they are from the noun viso [face, look] or from guisa, visa [way, wise], etc., as mentioned elsewhere [→Z 3005]), and likewise avisar, aviser, etc., is proper only to Latin and not to Italian or Spanish or French. We have instead avvistare [to catch sight of] as well from visto, our participle, or from our avvisto, if it is not from the noun vista [sight]. (16 Jan. 1824.) Avvistato (which however has a different sense from avvistare in the Crusca) certainly seems to come from vista, like svistare (Italian usage) from this vista or from svista [oversight], etc. (16 Jan. 1824.) Desaguisar, desaguisado, aguisado, etc.
[4016] For p. 4011. Rammentare [to remember], ammentare [to mention], etc., on which elsewhere [→Z 3985], may be compared to Latin verbs commentari [to think over] and other similar ones if there are any, from meno then memini [to remember], or from miniscor or from compounds of the one or the other, etc. (16 Jan. 1824.)
Nascere for to come about, Grecism proper to ancient Latin too, as in that o fortunatam natam [oh, happy you] that is γενομένην.1 See Forcellini, etc. It is very characteristic of Italian. Among thousands of examples, Guicciardini uses it bk. 1, tome 1, p. 111, Freiburg 1775–1776, “nata la perdita di S. Germano” [“after the loss of St. Germain”], that is accaduta [occurred] simply. And we use the verb nascere in many other ways and instances like the Greek γίγνεσθαι, for example in the phrase di qui or da ciò [hence] or quindi nasce che, etc., il, la [so it happens that the], etc., ἐκ τούτου γίγνεται or γίνεται. See the French and Spanish dictionaries, the Glossary, and the Greek lexicons. (16 Jan. 1824.) See the following page. Nascere for to arise, etc. Ne nacque un [There arose a], etc. Questa cosa nasce, nacque da [This thing arises, arose from], etc., ne nascerà [will arise from it], etc. “Per alcune difficoltà nate nella consegnazione delle Fortezze, non era ancora partito” [“Since some problems arose in handing over the Fortresses, he had not left yet”]. Guicciardini, 1, 280.
Not only in Italian and in Latin, as I have said in several other places [→Z 3938], but in Spanish as well and in French, participles are very often adopted, not only adjectivally, but with a meaning not their own belonging to adjectives near or similar to them, through catachresis or abusion (which is the “abuti verbis propinquis” [“to misuse nearly related words”], as Cicero writes in Forcellini under Abusio, or the “abuti verbo simili et propinquo pro certo et proprio” [“to misuse a similar and near word in place of a certain and proper one”], as the Author says ad Herennium, ibid.,2 e.g., Virgil’s “aedificare equum” [“to build a horse”], Aeneid 2, Caesar’s “aedificare classem” [“to build a fleet”], Lucian’s “οἰκοδομεῖν πυργίον” [“to build a tower”] in Timon, Opera, Amsterdam 1687, tome 1, p. 135, see note 6) as in honrado for onorevole, uomo d’onore [man of honor] (Don Quixote), (in Italian onorato as well, and see the Latin dictionaries and the Glossary, etc.), similar to invictus invitto, or Spanish invicto or invito (see the Spanish Dictionaries) for invincible, which is not a participle though, I mean invitto, although formed like a participle. Pregiato for prezioso or pregevole [precious or valuable], immensus for immetibilis [immeasurable], etc. etc. (16 Jan. 1824.)
Bisavolo [great-grandfather], etc., may be added to what I said elsewhere [→Z 3040] about avolo, ayeul, abuelo [grandfather], etc., and see again the French and Spanish dictionaries. Trisavolo, terzavolo, and terzavo [great-great-grandfather], quintavolo [great-great-great-great-grandfather], etc. (16 Jan. 1824.)
[4017] Grecism in Italian. Lucian, Timon, Opera, 1687, tome 1, pp. 77–79: “καὶ αὖθις μὲν σκέψομαι,… ἐπειδὰν τὸν κεραυνὸν ἐπισκευάσω· … πλὴν ἱκανὴ ἐν τοσούτῳ καὶ αὕτη τιμωρία ἔσται αὐτοῖς” [“I shall deal with this later,… when I have prepared the lightning bolt … But in the meantime let this punishment be enough for them”], that is in questo mezzo [in the meantime]. We have in tanto, fra tanto, in quel tanto, in questo tanto [in the meantime], etc. See the Spanish and French dictionaries. Here ἐν τοσούτῳ [in the meantime] becomes ἐν ὅσῳ (χρόνῳ) ὁ κεραυνὸς ἐπεσκευασμένος ἔσταί μοι [during this time I shall have the lightning bolt ready]. And the proper sense of our intanto is of this kind as well, depending on the context, and such is the origin of this idiom with the sense of interea, interim. (17 Jan. 1824.) There is no shortage of examples similar to the reference in Lucian. See p. 4022.
For the preceding page, paragraph 2. The phrase o fortunatam natam [oh, happy you], seems a true imitation of the Greek expression, and it is the same with some of those phrases where nasci stands for initium ducere [to come into being], etc., in Forcellini. That is not the case with our phrases mentioned above. E re nata [as circumstances dictate], pro re nata [in the circumstances], these phrases are well and truly Latin (that is they do not just belong to writers, apparently), and they are relevant here. (17 Jan. 1824.)
For p. 3176, margin, end. See Guicciardini’s Storia, Freiburg ed., bk. 1, tome 1, pp. 23, 27–28, 49, 55, 56, 64–65, 105–106; bk. 2, pp. 138–39, 142; bk. 5, pp. 422, 430, 431, from which passages one gathers that Charles VIII of France had planned in vain, as Philip did against the Persians, to attack the Turks, and conquer Asia and Greece, etc. A leader in no way comparable to Philip either in valor or fortune, which turned out to be most wretched for him in Italy, indeed he is unworthy of any such comparison.1 (17 Jan. 1824.) See p. 4025.
Esperimentato for che ha fatto esperienza, perito [experienced]. Guicciardini, tome 1, p. 128, about the middle, Freiburg ed., tome 2, p. 240, beginning, and often elsewhere: and see the Crusca. Esperimentato nelle guerre, nel governo, a [Experienced in war, in government, for], etc. Sperimentato, ibid. p. 131, about the middle, etc. (17 Jan. 1824.)
Greek supradiminutives. πόλις–πολίχνη–πολίχνιον [town]. (18 Jan., Sunday, 1824.)
[4018] Spanish, tragar [to swallow]—τρώγω [to eat] 2nd aorist ἔτραγον, from which τράγημα [sweetmeats], etc., and perhaps τράγος [goat] too. (18 Jan. 1824, Sunday.)
The passive participles of transitive verbs used in an active sense, both in Latin and mainly those in modern languages, are mostly used (and perhaps all of them in modern languages) absolutely, or at least without an accusative, so intransitively, whether they are used in an adjectival or participle form or however else. (18 Jan. 1824, Sunday.)
Altro for nessuno or alcuno or redundant, mentioned elsewhere [→Z 2892, 3588, 4000]: “Non sì ch’io speri averne altra corona” [“Not that I hope to receive any crown”], Machiavelli, “Capitolo della ingratitudine,” l. 7;1 that is averne corona, or averne nessuna or alcuna corona. (18 Jan. 1824.)
Nascere for avvenire, mentioned elsewhere not long ago [→Z 4016]. “Dunque se spesso qualche cosa è vista / Nascere impetuosa ed importuna / Che ’l petto di ciascun turba e contrista, / Non ne pigliare ammiration alcuna” [“Then if some sudden and unwelcome thing is seen to happen which troubles and saddens every heart, let it not cause any wonder”] (some sad event or other). Machiavelli, “Capitolo dell’ambitione,” ll. 172–75 (18 Jan. 1824, Sunday)
Latinisms with the Italian orthography of the 16th century mentioned elsewhere [→Z 3683, 3920]. Machiavelli, Opere, 1550, part 5, p. 47, end, adverso [adverse]; p. 49, end, admiration [admiration, wonder], and a hundred other similar spellings. (18 Jan., Sunday, 1824.)
Plurals in a. Urla, strida [Screams, shouts]. (18 Jan., Sunday, 1824.)
For p. 3998, margin, end. τρύβλιον or τρυβλίον catillus [bowl] (although they translate it catinus [p
ot]), patella [dish], trulla [ladle], ollula [pot] (see Scapula) all diminutives. And perhaps this Greek word is really diminutive too in its meaning, but the positive word however is not found, which serves to confirm our suspicions about other similar words, that have therefore a positive meaning, that is are positivized, according to us. I would say the same about θρυαλλὶς [plantain used for making wicks, a wick] perhaps diminutive in origin and meaning, but since the positive form is not found, it is not thought to be diminutive, either in origin or meaning. Lucian, [4019] 1, 88 has θρυαλλίδιον (like 1, 55, θρυαλλίδα) where you can see the notes.1 ᾿Ισχίον [hip joint] is a positivized diminutive perhaps of ἴσχις; the latter either meant coscia [thigh] as well, etc., or ἰσχίον originally meant lombo or lombo [loin, hip] as well.2 Certainly ἴσχις is a rare word, and is found, I think, only in Hesychius,3 so it might well have had one or more of the meanings of ἰσχίον, without us knowing it. (19 Jan. 1824.)
Positivized diminutives. Bouillon from bulla, bolla [bubble]. (19 Jan. 1824.) Bouillonnement, bouilloner [bubbling, to bubble]. Bulicare is a corruption of bollicare [to boil], from which we have bollicamento, and so bulicame [hot spring] for bollicame which is not found, whether these words come directly from bolla as the French ones mentioned above, or from bollire [to boil] (which comes from bolla), as the Crusca seems to want, which explains bollicamento for leggier bollimento [light boiling] (it would then be a diminutive), and bulicare for bollire, of which it would be the frequentative or diminutive or frequentative-diminutive. Bulicame however has nothing to do with bollire, rather with bolla. Unless you take bollire, for far bolle senza fervore [to boil gently]: see Bollire, § 4,4 and Forcellini. It seems however that bulicame is properly said of acque bollenti [boiling waters] although without any fire, etc. (19 Jan. 1824.) See p. 4004, paragraph 2. Moisson positivized diminutive of messis [harvest]. (19 Jan. 1824.)5
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