Zibaldone

by Leopardi, Giacomo

Scappare–scapolare [to escape].

  Uomo ben considerato, for savio, prudente [wise, prudent], etc. Tacitus, Davanzati, Storie, bk. 3, ch. 3.3 (18 Aug. 1824.)

  ᾿Εξαρχῆς εὐθὺς [right from the beginning]. Lucian, Opera, 1687, tome 2, p. 280.

  On the supposed αὐτοχθονία [autochthony] of the Athenians and the people in Attica, see Lucian, loc. cit., and the note.4 (19 Aug. 1824.)

  Retinere for ricordarsi [to remember], mentioned elsewhere [→Z 2757, 4093], is found in French, and see the Spanish dictionaries. (24 Aug., Vigil of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, 1824.)

  On concomitant ideas attached to certain words, mentioned elsewhere [→Z 109–11, 1701–706, 1234–36, 3952–54], see Thomas, Essai sur les éloges, ch. 7, end, p. 78, Oeuvres, tome 1, Amsterdam 1774.5 On the influence of literature and philosophy on language, and the formation of the Latin language, ibid., pp. 112–16, ch. 10.6 (25 August, Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, 1824) and pp. 214–15.

  [4118] Resabido, Spanish, saputo, saputello, etc., for saccente, that is sapiente, che sa [know-all, one who is knowledgeable], etc. See the Crusca, etc. (25 Aug. 1824.)

  Compassion moved by beauty even toward a person who in many respects does not deserve it, also perpetuated by posterity which is always thought to be a good judge. See Thomas, loc. cit. before, chapter 26, pp. 46–47.1 (26 Aug. 1824.)

  On the vicissitudes of the French language, see Thomas, loc. cit., ch. 28, pp. 81–97. (26 August 1824.)

  ᾿Εκτὸς εἰ μὴ [unless]. Lucian, Opera, 1687, tome 2, p. 306, beginning. (28 August 1824), p. 516.

  Πλὴν ὅσον se non quanto for se non che [if not that, except], etc. See a passage in Heliodorus in the Variae lectiones by Muret, bk. 9, ch. 4. The passage is in the Aethiopica, bk. 3.2 (28 Aug. 1824.)

  Εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς [right from the beginning]. Xenophon’s ἀπομνημονευμάτων [Memorabilia], bk. 1, ch. 2, § 39. (29 August, Sunday, 1824.) Lucian, 2, p. 545.

  Pendo–penso as, pesare, pesar, peser [to weigh].

  Declamitare [to declaim]. (31 August 1824.)

  ᾿Εν τούτῳ in questo, in questa (adverb), en esto [in the meantime]. Xenophon, loc. cit. above, bk. 2, ch. 1, § 27, beginning; Lucian, tome 2, pp. 638, 652. (1 Sept. 1824.)

  Εὐθὺς for luego3 ibid., ch. 6, § 32, notable passage, not understood by Leunclavius. (1 Sept. 1824.)

  Perpétuel, éternel [perpetual, eternal], etc., are not positivized diminutives, as I say elsewhere [→Z 4082], but come from perpetualis, aeternalis, etc. (2 Sept. 1824.)

  ᾿Εθέλειν [to want] for δύνασθαι [to be able], etc. See Xenophon’s ἀπομνημονευμάτων [Memorabilia] bk. 3, ch. 12, § 8, end of chapter. (3 Sept. 1824.)

  Dispettare, rispettare, respecter [despise, respect], etc., from despicio despectum, etc. (3 September 1824.)

  Osservato for osservante [observant]. See the Crusca. (5 Sept. 1824, Sunday.)

  [4119] Observito as [to watch carefully]. Forcellini. (5 Sept. 1824, Sunday.)

  “῾Ως γὰρ συνελόντι εἰπεῖν, οὐδὲν ἀξιόλογον ἄνευ πυρὸς οἱ ἄνθρωποι τῶν πρὸς τὸν βίον χρησίμων κατασκευάζονται” [“to sum up, men produce nothing useful for life without fire”]. Socrates in Xenophon’s ἀπομνημονευμάτων [Memorabilia] 4, 3, 7.1 (7 Sept., Vigil of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 1824.)

  Αὐτίκα for primum [in the first place] or verbigratia [for example], notable passage. Xenophon’s ἀπομνημονευμάτων [Memorabilia] 4, 7, 2. (7 Sept., Vigil of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 1824.)

  For what I have said elsewhere [→Z 3097ff., 3342–43, 3382] on the subject that the ancients thought of felicity and goodness as generally or always linked together, and, contrariwise, misfortune and wickedness, see among others Xenophon at the end of the Memorabilia and the Apology2 where he proves that Socrates was fortunate in death, revealing that even in those days proof of his good fortune was part and parcel of apology and praise. And you find a thousand other examples in the ancients, if you are familiar with them and observe closely. (7 Sept. 1824.)

  Spanish cura for curato [curate]. See a similar example in Ovid and others in Forcellini under Cura, end. (11 Sept. 1824.)

  Curato, curé for qui curat, curator [who looks after, guardian]. (11 Sept. 1824.)

  ᾿Ολίγου δεῖν [almost, be short of something by very little], etc.—“la lunghezza di lei di poco non aggiugne a cento miglia” [“its length is not far short of a hundred miles”]. Porzio, Congiura de’ baroni, etc., Lucca 1816, bk. 1, p. 35.

  ᾿Εκτὸς εἰ μὴ [unless] Lucian, Opera, 1687, tome 2, p. 338, middle. (15 Sept. 1824.)

  On the foolish opinion that in animals nature has been more generous in giving beauty to males than to females, as is right, but that in men it is the opposite, which is absurd, and this opinion comes from the idea of absolute beauty, and from the belief that in absolute terms what to us for relative reasons appears greater beauty is in fact so, hence the female is called the fair sex, when if only women were to judge the matter, or whoever was neither man nor woman, they would certainly call men the fair sex, as in other animals, see Tasso, “Dialogo del padre di famiglia,” Opere, Venice 1735, etc., vol. 7, p. 379, before the middle of the Dialogue.3 (15 Sept. 1824.)

  ῾Ελκόμενοι τῆς ῥινός [being led by the nose, up the garden path]. Lucian, Opera, 1687, tome 2, p. 342. (16 Sept. 1824.)

  Positivized Greek diminutives. ᾿Οθόνη–ὀθόνιον [fine linen]. See ibid., p. 350 and note that Lucian often uses such lexicalizations. (16 Sept. 1824.)

  [4120] Αὐτίκα for primum [in the first place]. Lucian, ibid., p. 363, end (19 Sept., Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 1824), 666, 669. Plato, Lyon 1590, p. 745b, p. 744g.1

  Sentimenta [feelings]. (20 Sept. 1824.) Vizia [Vices], moggia [corn measure].

  Sedeo es, sido is [to sit]–sedo as [to settle, calm]. (21 Sept. 1824.)

  Necessitado for bisognoso, que necessita [needy]. (22 Sept. 1824.)

  Verberito as [to flog]. (22 Sept. 1824.)

  Lucian, 2, 385. παρ' ὅσον—se non quanto, eccetto che [except, unless]. Badly translated here. But well on p. 559, παρ' ὅσον as nisi quod [except, unless].

  We commonly say quanto [as much] for solo [only], like un po’ d’acqua quanto per estinguere la sete [a little water just to slake one’s thirst], etc. Likewise in Greek ὅσον, and οὐχ ὅσον non solo [not only]. (25 Sept. 1824.)

  Τῆς ῥινὸς ἕλκεσθαι [to be led by the nose, up the garden path] Lucian 2, 389.

  Πάντα ἐν βραχεῖ—in breve, brevemente [briefly], (that is in una parola, uno verbo [in a word], and not brevi temporis spatio [in a short space of time], as the translator thinks) ogni cosa [everything]. Lucian 2, 390, 361, 567, and the note. On such Greco-Italian phrases, elsewhere [→Z 2674]. (25 Sept. 1824.)

  Turbo–tourbillon [whirlwind], positivized diminutive. (29 Sept., Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, 1824.)

  Simulato, dissimulato, disimulado, etc., for che simula [who feigns], etc. See Forcellini and the Spanish and French dictionaries. (30 Sept. 1824.)

  For, fatum–fator fataris [to speak]. (1 Oct. 1824.)

  Πλὴν παρ' ὅσον se non quanto, eccetto che [unless, except]. Lucian, 2, 455, end.

  Βαστάζω [to lift up, to carry]—bastasiare, bastaggiator oris. Barbarian Latin words common in the ancient annals and ancient public documents of Recanati, for facchino [carrier, porter], etc. The noun basto [packsaddle, load] comes from the same source. See Forcellini, Glossary, Crusca, etc. (3 Oct., Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Sunday, 1824.)

  “Εὐθὺς ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ ἐπιβάσει” [“right from first stepping on {the ship}”]. Lucian, 2, 496. (4 Oct. 1824, Feast of St. Francis of Assisi.)

  Εὐθὺς τὸ πρῶτον [as the v
ery first thing], ibid., 500, end.

  Παρ’ ὅσον, ἐς ὅσον—in quanto, poichè [since], Lucian, 2, 510, 512.

  ᾿Εν τοσούτῳ—intanto [meanwhile]. Lucian, 2, 507 (6 October 1824), 536, 557, 640.

  Storno–stornello, étourneau—(sturnus) [starling]. See the Spanish. (8 October 1824.)

  Ῥυτὶς ίδος, probably a positivized diminutive—ride [wrinkle] (French). (10 Oct. 1824.)

  Not only, as I said elsewhere [→Z 646], did any barbarous century think themselves to be so, but every century thought and thinks it is the non plus ultra as far as the progress of the human mind is concerned, and that it is hard and nearly impossible for future centuries, certainly not past ones, to surpass it in knowledge of things, discoveries, etc., and especially in civilization. (10 October, Sunday, 1824.) See p. 4124. Likewise there is no nation or small community so barbarous or savage that [4121] it does not think it is first among nations, and its state, the most perfect, civilized, happy, and that that of all the other nations is worse the more it is different from its own. See Robertson, Storia d’America, Venice 1794, tome 2, pp. 126, 232–33.1 Likewise nations half or imperfectly civilized, even in Europe, etc. And it was ever thus. (15 October, Feast of St. Teresa of Avila, 1824.)

  Sfidato for diffidente [distrustful]. Crusca. (22 October 1824.) Provveduto for provvido, provvidente [provident]. Pandolfini, Milan, 1811, pp. 114, 1692 and elsewhere, although it is not so formal and evident. See the Crusca. (22 Oct. 1824.) Biasimato for biasimevole [blameworthy]. Pandolfini, p. 194. (24 October, Sunday, 1824.)

  Τρίβων–τριβώνιον [threadbare cloak]. (25 Oct. 1824.) Μηλέα μηλὶς ίδος [apple tree].

  “Τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εὐθὺς ἐλθοῦσαν” [“and having just arrived”] Lucian, or whoever is the author of the Dialogue Fugitivi, tome 2, Opera, p. 595. (26 Oct. 1824.)

  Οὑτωσὶ redundant, with the meaning of and usage as così [so], especially in Tuscan, which I think I mentioned elsewhere [→Z 3170]; see Lucian, or whoever the author is, in the Fugitives, tome 2, Opera, p. 598.

  Presumido for presuntuoso [presumptuous]. (28 Oct. 1824.)

  On the assumed αὐτοχθονία [autochthony] of the Athenians see Goguet, Origine, etc., Lucca 1761, p. 52, note a, tome 1. (7 November, Sunday, 1824.)

  On the invention of the use of fire, of which I have spoken elsewhere [→Z 3643ff.], how difficult it was and how late, etc., see Goguet, loc. cit. above, pp. 58–60. (7 Nov., Sunday, 1824.)

  Positivized diminutives. Succus, succo–succhio [juice, sap]. (10 Nov. 1824.)

  Risentito [resentful], sentito [prudent] in a neuter sense. See the Crusca.

  Καὶ μάλιστα ὅσῳ, etc.—massime in quanto or in quanto che [especially inasmuch as], etc. Lucian 2, 634. (12 Nov. 1824.)

  Issuto, essuto, old Italian participles for stato of the verb essere [to be]. Add to what I said elsewhere about suto, sido [→Z 2895], etc. (14 Nov., Feast of the Patronage of the Blessed Virgin, 1824, Sunday.)

  Positivized diminutives. Rastrum–rastello [hoe, rake], etc. (14 Nov., Feast of the Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 1824, Sunday.)

  Scossare from scuotere [to shake]. Poliziano, Orfeo, act 1, ed. Affò, line 14.3

  Esoso [hateful] in an active sense. Guicciardini, 4, p. 373. See Forcellini, etc. (17 Nov. 1824.)

  [4122] Altro [other] for niuno [nobody, anybody]. Guicciardini, 4, 378, 389; Della Casa, Galateo, chapter 1, end, Opere, Venice 1752, tome 3, p. 239.

  Deficere–difettare [to abandon, to fail, to be wanting]. (19 Nov. 1824.)

  ᾿Εφόδιον–fodero, used, in the sense of provision made for the siege of a city or square, also by Botta in the Storia d’Italia, bk. 7, Italy1 1824, tome 1, p. 514. (19 Nov. 1824.)

  Abundado, old Spanish word for abbondante [abundant]. Saavedra Fajardo, Idea de un principe politico christiano, Amsterdam 1659, 16°, pp. 655, 663, twice. (20 Nov. 1824.)

  Implicitus, implicatus [involved].

  Implicito as [to entwine]. (24 Nov., Feast of St. Flavian, patron saint of Recanati, 1824.)

  Positivized diminutives. Latin nepeta—Italian nepitella [catnip], etc., aratrum–aratolo [plow].

  Altro [Other] for nessuno [no one] or redundant. Guicciardini, 4, 398. On that altra (that is niuna) dichiarazione [no, any declaration] see the preceding page in Guicciardini.

  Privus for privatus [deprived], participle. See Forcellini under privus, end. (30 Nov., Feast of St. Andrew, 1824.)

  Vilipeso for disprezzabile [contemptible]. Crusca. Contemtus in the same sense. See Forcellini.

  Liceor–licitor [to bid for]. (5 Dec., Sunday, 1824.) Solito as [to be accustomed].

  On the Italianism ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ, πλὴν εἰ μὴ, etc. [unless], where μὴ [not] is redundant, see Lucian, Soloecista, Opera, 1687, tome 2, p. 748, note 1, by Graevius. (6 Dec. 1824, octave of the anniversary of the death of my grandmother.)

  “Gli occhi infra ’l mare sospinse” [“She cast her eyes seaward”] (as she stood on the shore), that is nel mare [on the sea]. Boccaccio, Story of Madame Beritola and the roe deer, Trenta novelle scelte, Venice 1770, p. 68.2

  “Andava disposto di fargli vituperosamente morire” [“He was intent on having them ignominiously put to death”]. Boccaccio, loc. cit., p. 76.3

  Trasandato for negligente, che trasanda [negligent]. (8 Dec., Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 1824.)

  Μηρὸς–μηρίον [thigh], positivized diminutive (9 Dec., Vigil of the Translation of the Holy House of Loreto, 1824), poetic. ῎Ιχνος–ἴχνιον [track, footprint]. (10 Dec., Feast of the Translation, 1824.)

  Pseudo-Lucian, at the end of the Philopatris: “ἐδυσχέραινον γὰρ τί τοῖς τέκνοις καταλιπεῖν” [“I was suffering at the thought of what I could leave for my children”] for καταλίποιμι [to leave]. Italianism.4 (13 Dec. 1824.) See p. 4163, paragraph 5.

  Altro [other] for alcuna cosa [anything] or for nulla [nothing, anything] in the sense of aliquid. See the Crusca under Altro, § 1, and Boccaccio, Trenta novelle scelte, Venice 1770, p. 173, beginning.5 (18 Dec. 1824.)

  Positivized diminutives. Germen–germoglio [germ, sprout] germogliare [to sprout, to germinate], etc. See the Spanish and the Glossary, etc. Rejet–rejeton [shoot], etc. (23 Dec., Day before Christmas Eve, 1824.)

  [4123] Κλείω–κλεΐζω, κληΐζω, κλῄζω [to celebrate, to announce].

  Positivized diminutives. Βωμίον for βωμὸς [altar] in Lucian, Tragopodagra, p. 812, line 14, unless βωμίοις is a misspelling of βωμοῖς, as the meter seems to require (25 Dec., Christmas Day, 1824), since I do not think that Βωμίοις is an adjective and ἐμπύροις [burning] a noun.

  Sfondare–sfondolare [to knock the bottom out of] with its derivatives, etc. (30 Dec. 1824.)

  Conviso is [to examine thoroughly].

  Soverchiare, soperchiare, as it were superculare, from supero as [to surpass, to overcome] which means the same. See the Glossary, etc. (2 Jan. 1825.)

  Pesado for pesante [heavy]. And see the Crusca under pesato. (3 Jan. 1825.)

  Honoratus, honorate for onorevole, onorevolmente [honorable, honorably] as in Italian.

  Honorus for honoratus in the sense of honorabilis honorificus [honorable]. (10 Jan. 1825.)

  That men are more inclined to fear than to hope, or they feel at least the former much more than the latter, can be deduced from the fact that there are a great number of words in languages (at least the ones I know, and particularly Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian, and English) to express fear, fearing, making afraid, fearful, timorous, etc., and their different degrees, qualities, etc., when these languages have only one word or two at most to express hope, hoping, etc., and even those words originally have a meaning in common with fear, because they signify only future expectations, and so of evil too, in Latin and Greek, in Italian and Spanish (in modern Spanish too) and I think as well in Frenc
h and even perhaps in Old English, mentioned elsewhere [→Z 458–59, 1303–304, 2206–208, 3433–35, 3640–43]. (21 January 1825.)

  Corpusculum for corpus [body], like σωμάτιον for σῶμα. See the Index of the Papiri diplomatici of Marini.1 (22 January 1825.) See Longinus too, § 9, and Toup in that place.2

  Positivized diminutives. Caudillo [leader].

  “Εὐθὺς ἐν τῇ εἰσβολῇ τῶν νόμων” [“right at the beginning of his {the lawgiver’s} laws”]. Longinus, §§ 9, 38.3 (3 Feb. 1825.)

  Digiuna (ieiunia), that is the four ember days (see Crusca under Digiune). Dino Compagni, Cronica, [4124] Pisa, 1818, p. 98.1 (6 Feb., second last Sunday of Carnival, 1825.)

  ῎Εξω for eccetto [except]. Longinus, § 34. (8 Feb. 1825.) ἐκτὸς [beyond]. Plato, Gorgias, p. 328d. Opera, ed. Ast.2

  Αὐτίκα for luego, etc. Procopius of Gaza, Prooemium scholiorum in I Regum, in Meurs, Opera, tome 8. (11 Feb. 1825.) Plato, Gorgias, pp. 322d, 354a. Opera, ed. Ast.3

  Corpusculum for corpus [body], although with some diminutive or pejorative sense. St. Jerome in Ménage on Laertius, 6, 38. (13 Feb., Last Sunday of Carnival, 1825.)

  On the subject of what I said elsewhere (pp. 4120–21) about the opinion in all centuries (and likewise in nations) even the most barbarous ones, that they are superior in civilization, in perfection, in literature as well (even where they are very ignorant), to all preceding centuries together, and to each of them individually, even if they were highly civilized periods of great culture, see a beautiful passage in Petrarch, quoted and elegantly translated by Perticari in the Treatise Degli scrittori del Trecento, bk. 1, ch. 16, pp. 92–93.4 (14 Feb. 1825.)

  ᾿Εξ ἀρχῆς for rursus [again], just like our da capo [from the beginning] (which could also be expressed by πάλιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς [again from the beginning]). See Phlegon, De mirabilibus, ch. 1, in Meurs, Opera, tome 7, col. 81, lines 32–33, 62. Our ancients also said di ricapo. See Arrian as well, Alexandri expeditio, bk. 5, ch. 27, § 14. They still said αὖθις ἐξ ἀρχῆς, as can be found in Arrian, bk. 5, ch. 28, § 6, or else ἐξαρχῆς as one word, as in Demosthenes αὖθις ἐξαρχῆς. Tusanus.5 (15 Feb., last Day of Carnival, 1825.) See my Observations on Phlegon, loc. cit.6