Words preserved across generations in Vicenza, from city streets to mountain pastures.
A spring named for the birth of water, a path between rock and air, and a word for a child ready to fly on their own.
OLÀNDO MEANT READY TO FLY ON YOUR OWN.
In the Vicentine hills, the word was used for young birds that had learned to fly, and for children old enough to manage by themselves.
Crespadoro, Cornedo and other areas of Vicenza · Maria Teresa Vigolo, 1992THE BIRTH OF WATER.
Nassènte was the word for a spring in Asiago and Roana. Its name comes from nascere, to be born, and describes water at the point where it emerges from the mountain.
Asiago and Roana · Maria Teresa Vigolo, 1992A NÒRA WAS A PATH BETWEEN ROCK AND AIR.
In the mountains above Vicenza, the word could describe a narrow passage across rock, a ledge, or a small stony plot supported by dry stone walls.
Tretto, Arsiero, Posina, Tonezza and the upper Astico Valley · Maria Teresa Vigolo, 1992OLD VICENZA HAD A WORD FOR FIREFLIES, SLUSARÒLE.
In an 1876 Vicentine dictionary, the word appears beside slusare, to gleam, and slusor, brightness, a small family of words built around light.
Giulio Nazari, Dizionario Vicentino Italiano, 1876VICENZA HAD ITS OWN WORD FOR LOOKING CLOSER.
Calumare meant to look attentively, to observe with care.
Giulio Nazari, Dizionario Vicentino Italiano, 1876BEFORE DATING, VICENZA HAD SMOROSARE.
The old Vicentine verb meant to court, flirt and spend time as lovers.
Giulio Nazari, Dizionario Vicentino Italiano, 1876VICENZA HAD MORE THAN ONE WORD FOR FOG.
Caliverna was the thick kind. Nazari recorded it alongside other Vicentine words for fog, including caligo and bòra.
Giulio Nazari, Dizionario Vicentino Italiano, 1876VICENZA HAD A VERB FOR FASCINATION.
Inzinganare meant to fascinate or captivate.
Giulio Nazari, Dizionario Vicentino Italiano, 1876WHEN VICENZA CELEBRATED, IT MADE CAMPANON.
The expression meant ringing the bells for a feast.
Giulio Nazari, Dizionario Vicentino Italiano, 1876THE WHEAT GREW STRONG BENEATH THE SNOW.
In Vicentine, ingavassàrse meant to take root and grow vigorous. One recorded example describes wheat growing beneath the snow.
Valdagno and other areas of northern Vicenza · Maria Teresa Vigolo, 1992BEFORE THE SKI LIFT, THERE WAS THE SNÒIA.
A small wooden sled with two runners, crosspieces and handles, used by children on the snow and ice of northern Vicenza.
Chiampo, Crespadoro, Valdagno, Recoaro, Cornedo and other areas of northern Vicenza · Maria Teresa Vigolo, 1992WHEN IT REALLY RAINED, VICENZA SAID SPILAKÀRE.
Around Cornedo and Valdagno, the verb meant rain coming down in torrents.
Cornedo and Valdagno · Maria Teresa Vigolo, 1992ON THE ASIAGO PLATEAU, CHEESE WAS RAISED.
Arliévo described a rich cheese suited to long ageing. The name is connected with allevare, to raise, and in parts of northern Vicenza the related verb also acquired the technical meaning of ageing cheese.
Asiago Plateau · Maria Teresa Vigolo, 1992ON THE ASIAGO PLATEAU, EVEN THE MOSS HAS A CIMBRIAN NAME.
Rak was used in Asiago and Roana for the moss growing on tree trunks. The word belongs to the Cimbrian linguistic heritage of the Plateau and is related to Tyrolean and Old High German forms.
Asiago and Roana · Cimbrian · Maria Teresa Vigolo, 1992VICENZA HAD A WORD FOR THE SMALLER ROAD.
Trozo meant a narrow path or track. It appears in Vicentine records as early as 1381, while truozo is documented in 1560 and 1590.
Domenico Bortolan, Vocabolario del dialetto antico vicentino, 1893VICENZA HAS BEEN RENAMING ITS FOG FOR CENTURIES.
Nìbia and nibiazzò appear in Vicentine texts from the sixteenth century. Three centuries later, Nazari recorded caliverna for dense fog.
Domenico Bortolan, Vocabolario del dialetto antico vicentino, 1893 · Giulio Nazari, Dizionario Vicentino Italiano, 1876