Borrowed English Words from Italian Trivia Quiz | Humanities

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The secret form of voting we term 'ballot', originates from the proper name for an Italian secret religious society.

Answer: False

Not quite, but possibly just as interesting. The word 'ballot' is from the Italian 'ballotta', a term which connotes a method of voting developed in 16th century Italy via small balls which were color-coded to signify different candidates. The balls were collected secretly in a container, and afterward the results were tallied based on 'balla' count.

2. What two word phrase, originally from the Italian, would we use to describe Betty Ford, Dolley Madison or any overly temperamental person who has an elevated sense of ego?

Answer: prima donna

The phrase 'prima donna' means 'first lady', literally in Italian. Of course, the term could be used to directly translate the title given to Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush or Martha Washington, but it also has a negative connotation, as described in the question. The term also describes the lead female voice in an opera...some of whom might fit both meanings of the word!

3. The names of several musical instruments come to us from the Italian. One of these is 'piano', which is a shortened form of what original Italian term?

Answer: Pianoforte

'Piano' is the shortened form of 'pianoforte', the name of which comes from the phrase 'piano e forte', meaning 'soft and loud'. The word piano is not only used in relation to the large, stringed instrument, but also is applied as an adjective or adverb in music, meaning 'soft' or 'softly'.

4. Which English word comes to us originally from an Italian exclamation calling soldiers 'to arms!'?

Answer: Alarm

The original Italian term from which the word 'alarm' was derived is 'all'arme'. Alarm is an example of a compressed word, that is, a word that was originally formed from two or more words. We most often use the term 'alarm' these days to describe those confounded little clocks that rudely awaken us from our slumber each morning.

5. The word 'incognito', which is used to describe a person who, for whatever reason, has chosen to hide her/his identity, is Italian for which of the following?

Answer: Unknown

Oops, I hope the choice 'unknown' didn't throw you off. Incognito literally means 'unknown' in Italian, and is very useful for private eyes, undercover cops and Hollywood movie stars hiding from paparazzi (another Italian term incidentally, the proper name of a character from Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita'!)

6. American radio personality Rush Limbaugh would be familiar with this English word meaning 'the same thing again', that comes from the word for 'said' in one Italian local dialect. What is this word?

Answer: Ditto

The word 'ditto' is from the dialect of Tuscany, where it is spelled 'detto' and means 'said'. If you agree with what a person has just said, you may elect to simply say 'ditto', though I have great concern for you if this is one of your favorite ways to respond to political commentary! If one wants to signify 'ditto' in writing, two apostrophe marks may be typed, like so ('').

7. Detractors of public officials who choose to caricaturize them might be familiar with this word, from the Italian, which means 'a ridiculous but amusing person'. Which of the following is the Italian-derived term described here?

Answer: Buffoon

The term 'buffoon' appears as 'buffone' in Italian, and its original meaning is 'clown' (originally from the Latin 'buffo'.) Incidentally, the word poltroon is also from the Italian 'poltrone', which means 'sluggard'. In English, the term poltroon is used to describe a coward.

8. The word 'attack' can be traced back to the Italian 'attacco', meaning, what else, 'an attack'.

Answer: True

The word 'attack' found its way into English via the French 'attaque', but the French derived the word initially from the Italian 'attacco' and/or 'attaccare' (to join the battle.) This word has found its way into the medical, military, political, and sports vocabularies, primarily, and may also be used to express hunger...an 'attack of the munchies'! (And no, I'm not about to tell you that the word 'munchie' is Italian-derived...)

9. If you have suffered from an English word derived from the phrase 'broken bench' in Italian, what terrible thing has probably occurred?

Answer: You have lost all of your money

The English word 'bankrupt' comes originally from the Italian 'banca rotta', which translates literally as 'broken bench' (with the word 'bank' meaning 'bench'.) The 'breaking of the bench' was a symbolic gesture used by usurers to indicate their inability to perform monetary transactions with their customers. These days, one may not only become financially bankrupt, but morally bankrupt as well. Personally, I'd rather be the former than the latter.

10. When many of us think of the Italian language, some of the first terms that come to our minds are the names of various pasta. With this in mind, did the word 'pasta' come to English by way of Italian?

Answer: Yes

Of course it did! The word 'pasta' literally means 'paste' in Italian, it describing the pasty texture of flour pasta prior to its being finally prepared through the cooking process. In my opinion, no other English word from the Italian is more important than this one! And with that, I bid you buon giorno, buona sera and/or arrividerci. Grazie for taking my quiz (and please try some of my other language quizzes if you have enjoyed this one!)

Source: Author thejazzkickazz

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Borrowed English Words from Italian Quiz

Of course Italian, being one of the Romance languages, has made a big impact on the English language. Find out, in part, just how significant this impact has been by attempting these ten questions...buona fortuna!

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