Amaricare [to sadden] (Italian). See Forcellini. Amareggiare. Armeggiare [to carry arms]. Pareggiare [to make level]. Corteggiare [to court].
Cumbo is, preserved in its compounds—cubo as [to recline], with its compounds, etc. PostiCIPARE [to postpone].
For p. 4509, end. To the form in ŏlo, ŏlare, etc., add those in giŏlo, ggiŏlo, ccŏlo, cŏlo, and especially in ucolo (carrucola [pulley], etc.). Also occo, etc., as above, comes for the most part from the Latin ucul … (anitrocco, anitroccolo [duckling], bernoccolo [lump], bernoccoluto, etc.) as with occhio (ranocchio [frog], ginocchio [knee], etc.). See p. 4513. In French cle, cler, gle, gler, etc. And in Spanish, etc. —Add also those with giuōlo, ggiuōlo, zuolo, etc. —The form with ezzo [4512] ezzare may not be only from ecci…, but from eggi … Careggiare–carezzare [to caress]. See Crusca with amarezzare [to sadden], marezzare [to marble], etc. And likewise others in zo, etc. Libycus–libyculus–libeccio (LebESCHE French) [southwest wind]; corticula–corteccia [bark], scortecciare [to remove bark], etc.; the Latin i usually [→Z 4257–59, 4461–62] changed into e, and as in many other diminutive forms (orecchia [ear], pecchia [honeybee], etc., oveja [sheep], etc., abeille [bee], etc. etc.), frequentative forms, etc., particularly those many forms in ecchi … (and the corresponding French and Spanish forms). Thus, and according to what I said at the beginning of p. 4500, our frequentative form, etc., which is so commonly used with eggio eggiare, would also be from the Latin form. —In all such forms, if these include the whole Latin form, the lo lare, where it is found, is a Tuscan addition. —In any event, for forms and examples, etc., see the index to these thoughts1 under Frequentatives, Diminutives, etc. (17 May [1829].)
In a language which is very rich, not only is the language of each writer poor or limited, as I have stated elsewhere [→Z 1480ff.], but also that of the people and the spoken language in general. E.g., spoken Italian, including in Tuscany, is no richer than French, especially in terms of synonyms, etc. (18 May [1829].)
A rivederla [goodbye]: the usual Tuscan farewell, even when passing, without even stopping, or from a distance. Absurdity of these flatteries of ours called compliments. (18 May [1829].)
Too much attentive persistent care, too many demonstrations of consideration, of concern, of affection (as is generally shown by women), are extremely annoying and detestable to those to whom it is directed, even coming from people of whom we are very fond μία νόννα, ἀδ. μαέστρι, λὰ ζία ᾿Ισαβέλλα κὸν κάρλῳ [my grandmother, Adelaide Maestri, aunt Isabella with Carlo].2 —“Moral etiquette.” (18 May [1829].)
Pullus–pollone; rejet–rejeton; surgeon (surculus) [shoot, sucker]. Poulet [chicken]. Poitrine [chest]. Vagolare [to wander about], svagolare [to be distracted] (see Alberti). Guerreggiare [to wage war], gareggiare [to compete], serpeggiare [to twist and turn], tratteggiare [to sketch out] (see Alberti), pennelleggiare [to paint], parteggiare [to take sides], costeggiare [to skirt], pompeggiare [to brag], pavoneggiare [to show off], patteggiare [to negotiate], osteggiare [to oppose], campeggiare [to stand out], aspreggiare [to treat harshly], mareggiare [to undulate].
Recondito [out-of-the-way]. Uomo onorato, disonorato [honored, dishonored man]; azione disonorata [dishonorable action], etc.
Verbs in to from feminine nouns in tas. Nobilitas–nobilito [to ennoble]. Debilito [to weaken], mobilito [to mobilize].
Morve–morveau [nasal mucus]. Spia–espion, spione [spy] (the Crusca considers it to be augmentative—wrongly: and [4513] similarly with others like this, etc. etc.).
Misceo–mixtum–mestare [to mix], with their compounds, etc. To be added to what I have said elsewhere [→Z 2280–81, 2385–86] about meschiare, etc.
Canto as [to sing], in Forcellini, could provide examples of continuative use.
What I have said about verb forms in bilis [→Z 3757–60, 3825–26, 3939, 4490] can also be said about those in ivus (nativus, etc.), and others like this.
For p. 4511, margin. —and in occio: figlioccio [godchild] (filiuculus, not filiolus), moccio (muculus) [mucus], bamboccio [fool], femminoccia [simple-minded woman], fantoccio [puppet], santoccio [bigot], casoccia [hovel], etc. —Filleul [godchild] (filiolus, in other sense).
Certain ideas, certain images of things which are supremely vague, fantastical, chimerical, impossible, afford us the greatest delight, either in poetry or in our own imagination, because they bring back to mind the most distant memories, those from our childhood, in which such ideas and images and beliefs were familiar and ordinary. And the poets who have such (supremely poetic) concepts the most are those most dear to us. See p. 4515. Consider well your most poetic feelings and imaginings, those which uplift you the most, which take you out of yourself and the real world; you will find that they, and the pleasure that is born of them (at least after childhood), consist entirely or principally in remembering.1 (21 May [1829].)
For p. 4428. Anyone who has few dealings with people is unlikely to be a misanthrope. True misanthropes are not to be found in solitude but in the world. They praise solitude, yes indeed; but they live in the world. And if such a person withdraws from the world, he loses his misanthropy in solitude. (21 May [1829].)
For p. 4504. Furunculus [boil], carbunculus (carboNCHIO, carbUNCO, carbONCOLO, carbUNCOLO, carbUNCULO [carbuncle]: what a variety of pronunciations of one single ending for one single word! escarBOUCLE), etc.: more often from words which have the n in the nominative or in the genitive, if they are nouns. (21 May). —In any event, [4514] the contraction of cul … into cl…, must extend to all the other endings with ul…, especially with gul…, etc. I say this in relation to the corruption brought about to such endings in the vernacular forms. (22 May 1829, Recanati.) —Vannozzo, Vannoccio. Cerviatto, or cerbiatto [fawn]. —Words ending in cul…, especially with a preceding consonant, are contracted from icul…, as tuberculum [tubercle] from tubericulum, laterculus [brick] from latericulus, hence the Spanish ladrillo; the i is not pronounced as in many other cases. —That the ending acul … particularly in late or Vulgar Latin, etc., has a pejorative force—like accio acciare, as asse asser French, azo azar Spanish—is seen not only from the agreement of these 3 daughter languages with that form and meaning, but also from our collective pejorative forms with aglia (marmaglia, plebaglia, canaglia, ciurmaglia, giovanaglia [rabble], etc.), and likewise, it seems to me, in Spanish; and from the French words which are also pejorative with ail aille ailler (canaille [rabble], rimailler [to write bad verse], rimailleur [poetaster], etc.). It is no coincidence that these 2 forms with aglio and accio (and their corresponding forms), which otherwise, when considered by themselves in our languages, have nothing in common, are both equally pejorative: their grammatical origin is derived from one single Latin form: it is natural that their pejorative significance is also derived from this common basis. (23 May.) —Vittuaglia [victual], etc. Foraggio–are, fourrage–er [forage–to forage]: see Spanish. Bitorzo (bitorCIO, almost bitorculus), bitorzolo [swelling], etc. Santocchieria [sanctimony]. Foeniculum–(foenuculum)–finocchio–fenouil [fennel]. —The ending with gn … ñ, etc., is generally from neus, etc.; e.g., castanea–castagna [chestnut]. —AveuGLE [blind], aveuGLER–aboCULUS. Muraglia [wall]. Pagliuca [straw] (Alberti). Molliccio, molliccico [flaccid]. See p. 4515.
Minuto [minute], participle used as an adjective, with its derivatives, etc. See Latin, French, Spanish.
Soperchio soperchiare [to overflow, to overwhelm], superculus superculare: of the same kind as parecchio [alike] apparecchiare [to match], pariculus appariculare, about which elsewhere [→Z 3515, 3996]; where the ending in cul … is a simple ending and not a diminutive. See p. 4443, etc.
RUIna–rOvina [ruin], etc.
[4515] For p. 4513. Similarly, many images, readings, etc., make an impression on us and give us supreme pleasure, not because of themselves, but because they renew within us the impressions and pleasures of those same or similar images or readings in other times, and especially in our childhood or early youth. This is som
ething very frequent: I would venture to suggest that almost all poetic impressions which we now experience are of this kind, although we are not aware of it, because we do not think about them, and take them to be primitive, direct impressions, not reflected ones. It is therefore clear that one poem, etc., must appear to a particular person to be much finer than another, independently of its intrinsic merit, etc. etc.
Zoppicare [to limp]. Medeor–medico as [to heal].
For p. 4493. As has been noted, a large part of the pleasure that poetic feelings give us and leave us with consists in the fact that they magnify our self-esteem, and leave us more satisfied with ourselves.1 Exactly like feelings, like noble, magnanimous, compassionate actions, like sacrifices, etc. (and like the conversation of someone who has the true art of amiability). And in exactly the same way that these occur only in someone who is happy, content with himself, who esteems himself, etc., so it is, neither more nor less, with poetic feelings. (24 May [1829].)
For p. 4514. Lucigno-lo. —In uomICCI-UOLO, omICI-ATTO, omICI-ATTOLO, and similar words, the usual multiplication of the Latin form in ulus. —Coraggio, for cuore [heart] (corazon, coraje, courage): see Crusca, as it were coraculum. Incorare–incoraggiare [to encourage]. Visage, envisager, ombrage [shade], ombrager, language, usage, ouvrage [work], etc. etc. This form in age ager, is entirely French, Provençal, etc. Whence our form, also so abundant, in aggio, aggia, aggiare; and a very large part at least of the words which have this ending (viaggio–are [travel], etc. Piaggia [beach] is not, as I state elsewhere [→Z 4173], [4516] from plagula, but from plage; and thus spiaggia). In Spanish such nouns finish mostly in e (viaje, mensaje, etc. etc.). —See the next thought. See pp. 4518, 4521.
For p. 4444. See p. 4473, penultimate paragraph and related thoughts, the immense and highly varied use which vulgar or late Latin made of this same form in icul … cul … ul … either in diminutive, frequentative form, etc., or positivized, or as a simple ending. (25 May.) See here at the end of the page1 a clear use for the almost endless forms which are derived from it in our vernacular languages. From which it can be seen that the very early use of that form never stopped, nor was it less frequent in the later Latin periods than in the early periods.
What I have said elsewhere [→Z 4284–85] about the undoubtedly greater number of sounds in the northern languages than in ours, the reason, in part, for their bad spelling, given the paucity of the Latin alphabet adopted by them, can also be applied to the dialects of northern Italy, which for the same reason are also extremely difficult to write properly. Mezzofanti used to say that an alphabet of 40 or 50 or more letters would be needed for the Bologna dialect. This is not all that those dialects have in common with the northern languages. In any event, the dialects are generally richer than the ordinary alphabet. Spoken Tuscan also has rather more sounds than letters, but only a few more. The Marche and Roman dialects have almost no more: they are (in this as in a thousand other things) truly ordinary and written Italian, or the vernacular which is as close to it as possible. (25 May [1829].)
Gracchiare [to croak] (from gra gra: see Forcellini under graculus), scorbacchiare, scornacchiare [to deride], spennacchiare [to pull out feathers]. Gorgheggiare [to warble].
For paragraph 1, here also the Tuscans are richer than others. Often when others use the positive (noun or verb), they use the diminutive [4517] or frequentative, etc., even though there is no difference in meaning. We, for example, like to use spennare [to pluck feathers], the Tuscans spennacchiare, etc. etc. (26 May [1829].)
Nature has given us not only the desire, but the need, for happiness; it is a real need, like that of feeding ourselves. For he who does not possess happiness, is unhappy, in the same way that someone who has nothing to eat suffers hunger. But nature has given us this need without the possibility of satisfying it, without even having put happiness into the world. Animals have no more than we, except that they suffer less; the same with savages: but happiness, no one has. (27 May [1829].)
Bollito for bollente [boiling]. Patito [suffering]. Indigesto for non digeribile [indigestible], and for one who has not digested.
“Humanity of the ancients,”1 etc. Old people. Disdain for old people is something pitiful, awful, yet most natural, even in refined society. An old person in company (today in Italy at least) is made the object of fun, of ridicule by everyone. Not just disdain but also neglect, not assisting them, not offering them those services, that help, whose exchange is the purpose and cause of human society, and which old people need so much more than others. Young people are served; old people have to serve themselves. In one and the same room, if a young woman drops a spindle or a fan, someone will be ready to pick it up for her; if the same happens to an elderly woman who has difficulty getting to her feet, bending down, she will have to pick it up herself. And the same in cases of illness, etc. etc. Old people, even of the same social rank, often have to [4518] help and serve the young. And here I am talking about physical help and service. We are scandalized by those Barbarians who are waited on by women: but our own situation is the same, if not worse. And it comes from the same heartless and brutal, but natural principle, that the strong are served, the weak serve.1 (27 May [1829].)
For p. 4516. The form aiuolo and aiólo in legnaiolo [wood cutter], erbaiuolo [herb gatherer], vignaiuolo [vine dresser], stufaiuolo or stufaiolo [stoker], fruttaiuolo or fruttaiolo [fruit picker], calzaiuolo [cobbler], pesciaiuolo [fisherman], armaiuolo [armorer] and so forth, is also originally a diminutive from ariolus (lignariolus, etc.). Likewise in aruolo, arólo (which is typical of us Marche people), eruolo: pizzicaruolo, pizzicarolo (Alberti), pizzicheruolo [seller of cheeses and cured meats].—Inguina [groin]—(inguinacula plural).—anguinaglia, anguinAIA. See French, Spanish. Ventraia [stomach].
TombEreau [tumbril]. DoucEreux [sickly-sweet]. Fiocco–flocon [flake].
“Manual of practical philosophy.” “Memories of my life.”2 In the same way that pleasures bring no delight unless they have a purpose outside themselves, as I have said elsewhere [→Z 4266–67, 4273–74], the same is true of life, however full of pleasures it is, unless it has an overall purpose, etc. You have to have a purpose in life in order to live happily. Literary glory, or wealth, or honors, a career in other words. I have never been able to understand what they can enjoy, how they can live, those carefree layabouts (old and mature as well) who go from pleasure to pleasure, from one amusement to another, without ever setting themselves a regular goal at which to aim, without ever saying, deciding, to themselves: what is the point of my life? I have never been able to imagine what life it is these people live, what death they expect. In any case, though such purposes have little value in themselves, much value is gained by the means, the occupations, the hope, imagining them as great goods by force of habit, thinking about them and getting them.3 Man can and needs to build goods for himself in this way. (31 May [1829].)
[4519] Sfilare [to unthread]–sfilacciare–sfilaccicare [to fray] (see Crusca under Spicciare): filaccica [frayed threads] (plural).
Latin verbs with urio are also formed from the supines.
For p. 4449. —Furthermore, the conformity between the customs, government, religion, rites, language, etc., of the Trojans and Greeks, which appears in Homeric poetry, in the traditions, etc. (and which seems to favor Niebuhr’s conjecture, though it has other bases), can still be misleading, and may only indicate the lack of skill and knowledge of those old poets, as I suggest elsewhere [→Z 4359–60]. Similar to those painters or craftsmen of later times, and also some from the classical age, who represented ancient figures and foreigners in modern and national dress. Among the moderns, Pontedera (Giulio Pontedera, Antiquitatum Latinarum Graecarumque enarrationes atque emendationes praecipue ad veteris anni rationem attinentes [Interpretations and Corrections of Latin and Greek Antiquities Concerning in Particular the Calculations of the Old Calendar], Padua 1740, preface, a book of which Niebuhr seems unaware), basing himself partly upon the said conformity, partly upon oth
er arguments, suggests that *“the Trojans were once a colony of the Greeks.”*1 (2 June [1829].)
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