This video looks at the linguistics behind
pasta names: it covers many familiar pasta
shapes, and some more exotic ones too!
[music]
Pasta originated in Italy, so the names for
pasta shapes are Italian words. Often the
pasta is named after an object with a similar
shape.
‘Conchiglie’ means ‘shells’, ‘farfalle’
means ‘butterflies’, and ‘spirali’
means ‘spirals’.
Some names have stranger meanings which may
come as a surprise.
Gomiti is a small curved pasta, which means
‘elbows’. Lumache is a type of pasta with
a similar shape, which bears some resemblance
to a snail’s shell. Lumache simply means
‘snails’. Sedani is a hollow pasta, named
after celery, which has a similar shape.
Very many pasta names are from types of words
called diminutives. A diminutive is a form
of a word used to indicate smallness. Diminutives
are normally formed by adding suffixes, an
extra ending to an original word. For example,
in English, ‘booklet’ is a diminutive
of ‘book’. Diminutives are also used to
express affection, as in the English example
of ‘doggie’ for ‘dog’.
In Italian, several different suffixes can
be used to form diminutives, one of which
is -ino or -ina. The Italian word for tongue,
lingua, has diminutive linguina, of which
the plural is linguine, a long flat pasta.
Lingua, and therefore linguine, is etymologically
linked to the English word ‘linguistics’,
the scientific study of language, since tongue
is cross-linguistically used as a metaphor
for language.
Another pasta with this suffix is fettuccine,
which means ‘little ribbons’.
A very thin pasta, rod-shaped like spaghetti,
has two names, capellini and barbine, which
are named after hair on the head and face.
The Italian word ‘barba’ is related to
the English word ‘barber’, someone who
cuts men’s hair, which originally meant
someone who groomed beards in particular.
Another suffix to make diminutives in Italian
is -etto or -etta. Spaghetti is a diminutive
of spago, which means ‘string’. Orecchiette
is a diminutive of ‘orecchia’, which means
‘ear’.
Another diminutive suffix is -ello or -ella.
Tagliatelle means ‘little cuttings’, whilst
garganelli is a diminutive from a Latin word
meaning ‘trachea’, or ‘windpipe’.
Rotelle means ‘little wheels’.
Tortelli means little pies – you may also
be familiar with tortellini, which comes from
another diminutive ending being added on to
tortelli. ‘torta’, the Italian word for
pie, is related to the English words ‘tart’
and ‘tortilla’.
A few pastas have names which are nothing
to do with their shape.
Mafalde are named after Princess Mafalda of
Savoy, who, as far as I can find out, is the
only person who has had a pasta shape named
after them. Paccheri means ‘slaps’, and
it’s thought that they are named after the
slapping sound they make when you eat them.
Perhaps the strangest pasta name I came across
when making this video is strozzapreti, which
means ‘priest-chokers’. There are several
theories about where this name came from.
Some think it’s because the shape resembles
a clerical collar. Another theory is that
priests enjoyed the pasta so much that they
ate it too quickly and choked.
For strozzapreti, we know what it means, we
just can’t be sure why. But for some other
pasta shapes, it’s unclear or disputed where
the name comes from, lasagne, macaroni and
ravioli for example.
Which pasta name surprised you the most? Are
there features of language you’ve always
wondered about? Leave a comment! While you’re
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