There are words that seem to have always existed, so ingrained in everyday language that we no longer pay attention to them. Yet many of them have a definite origin: a film, a novel, a play, or even a television program. Culture, in all its forms, does not just tell the world, but in some cases modifies it, until it enters everyday vocabulary and becomes part of the way we think about and describe reality.
One of the filmmakers who has most affected this process is Federico Fellini: his cinema has left iconic images but also words that have transcended the screen. La Dolce Vita gave rise to “paparazzo,” now a synonym for celebrity photographer, while Amarcord turned a dialect term into a word indicating a nostalgic and personal memory. Fellini not only narrated Italy, but contributed to its linguistic imagery.
Alongside this emblematic case, there are many other words born or transformed by culture. Gaslighting indicates psychological manipulation that leads one to doubt one’s own perception and comes from the 1938 work Gas Light. Azzeccagarbugli means one who complicates situations and comes from Manzoni’s I Promessi Sposi. Amphitryon means a very hospitable person and comes from the theatrical tradition of Molière and Plautus. In all cases, the proper name becomes a concept.
Everyday language also retains traces of chivalric culture, such as gradasso, used for those who flaunt arrogance, from the poems of Boiardo and Ariosto. More recent is Fantozzian, describing grotesque and unfortunate situations and derived from Paolo Villaggio’s character. Television has also engrained it: carrambata indicates an unexpected encounter and comes from Raffaella Carrà’s program in the 1990s.
Other words come from literature and cultural history. Dongiovanni indicates a seducer and comes from the legend of Don Juan. Finally j’accuse is a public denunciation against injustice and comes from Émile Zola’s 1898 letter.
[📸 IPA 📹 ©️ Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]
