Zibaldone

by Leopardi, Giacomo

  Strida, grida [cries, shouts], pera [pears], mela [apples] plural. See the Crusca. Staia (sextaria) [unit of dry and liquid measurement, a bushel (sixths)].

  Scricchio–scricchiolo [squeaking]. Nubes, nube–nuvola, nuvolo, nugolo [cloud], etc. See Crusca.

  Scricchiolare [to squeak]. Suggere–succhiare, succiare [to suck], etc. Disgocciolare [to drip].

  Visco, viscoso, vesco, viscus, or viscum–vischio, vischioso, veschio [birdlime]. Lens–lenticula; lente–lenticchia, French lentille [lentil]. See the Spanish. Inviscare–invischiare, etc., invescare–inveschiare [to catch in birdlime, to entangle].

  Prezzolare [to hire]. Trombettare e strombettare [to trumpet], with their derivatives.

  Sacrato for sacro, and likewise sacré and sagrado for sacer [holy]. See Forcellini under sacratus.

  Tero is tritum—Italian tritare [to mince, to grind]. (See Forcellini)—stritolare.

  To what I said elsewhere [→Z 2814] about dicere–dicare [to say—to proclaim, to dedicate] add the compounds praedicare, dedicare [to predict, to dedicate], etc. And note that although sedare is of the same family as sedere [to cause to settle—to sit], nevertheless it does not belong in our discussion any more than fugare—fugere [to cause to flee—to flee] does. The first (sedare–fugare) are active, the second (sedere–fugere) are neuter. (Bologna, 13 Nov. 1825, Sunday.) Likewise placere–placare [to please—to placate].

  Sbarbare–sbarbicare [to shave], abbarbicare [to take root].

  “καλεῖται δὲ κατὰ μὲν τὸν ῎Αρατον ᾿Ηριδανός· οὐδεμίαν δὲ ἀπόδειξιν περὶ αὐτοῦ φέρει” (῎Αρατος) [“its name is Eridanus according to Aratos: he” (Aratos) “gives no proof of it”]. Eratosthenes, Catasterismi, ch. 37.1 (Bologna, 14 Nov. 1825.)

  Più tempo for del tempo (some time) like più anni for parecchi anni (plures anni) [several years] a phrase used by classical writers. —See the addenda to my observations on the Greek paradoxographers,2 that is on chapter 1, col. 81, line 2 of Phlegon; πλείονα χρόνον, etc. (Bologna, 14 Nov. 1825.) Likewise i più, le più, etc.—οἱ πλείους for οἱ πλεῖστοι [the majority]. See the observations already referred to on Antigonus, ch. 127.

  [4152] “Πρῶτον μὲν ὦν χρὴ τοῦτο γινώσκειν ὅτι ὁ μὲν ἀγαθὸς ἀνὴρ οὐκ εὐθέως” (idcirco, luego, not statim, as Gessner translates) “εὐδαίμων ἐξ ἀνάγκας ἐστίν” [“One should consider first that the man who is rich is not on that account” (on that account, subsequently, not immediately, as Gessner translates) “necessarily happy”]. Archytas the Pythagorean, De viro bono et beato, in Stobaeus, discourse 1, ed. Gessner, Basel 1549, p. 13.

  ᾿Αγκύριον for ἄγκυρα áncora [anchor]. Socrates in Stobaeus, loc. cit., p. 21, and ch. 2, p. 33.

  Bozzo [cuckold], vulgar–bozzolo; with the other senses of bozzolo [cocoon, lump, knot], and its derivatives. See Crusca.

  “One of the greatest problems, etc., lies in the suppression of vowels and in there not having been found yet any invariable rules on how to replace them,” says Ciampi speaking about the Etruscan language in general in the Antologia of Florence, no. 58, October 1825, p. 55.1 “What established rules do we have, not for our reading of the letters but for the grammar?” (of Etruscan writing) “We know vowels are often left out; but was that by some whim of the stonecutters, or to transcribe pronunciation, or else for some rule on shorthand or spelling, like the Masoretic writing of the Jews? We know nothing about it; and even less about how they should be replaced.” Ibid., p. 57. That might be useful for my own remarks [→Z 1283ff.] on the reason for the suppression of vowels in the most primitive and imperfect ancient scripts. (Bologna, 15 Nov. 1825.)

  In questo (in questa) in quello (in quella) [at this, at that point], etc. Adverbs of time. —Greek “ἐν τούτῳ. Καὶ ἐν τούτῳ ἡ ἑτέρα γυνὴ προσελθοῦσα εἶπεν” [“at this point, the other woman arrived and said”]. Xenophon, Memorabilia, in the fable of Hercules by Prodicus.2

  Stobaeus, discourse 7, περὶ ἀνδρείας “De fortitudine” [“On Fortitude”], ed. Gessner, Basel 1549, p. 91. In the margin: *“Agatharcides (sic) of Samos in the fourth book of Persika.”*3 In the text: “Ξέρξης μετὰ πεντακοσίων μυριάδων ᾿Αρτεμισίῳ προσορμίσας, [4153] πόλεμον τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις κατήγγειλεν. ᾿Αθηναῖοι δὲ συγκεχυμένοι, κατάσκοπον ἔπεμψαν ῾Ηγησίλαον” (in the margin Ἁγησίλαον) “τὸν Θεμιστοκλέους ἀδελφόν· καί περ Νεοκλέους τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ κατ' ὄναρ ἑωρακότος ἀμφοτέρας ἀποβεβηκέναι” (in the margin ἀποβεβληκότα) “τὰς χεῖρας. παραγενόμενος δὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ εἰς πλῆθος τῶν βαρβάρων ἐν σχήματι Περσικῷ, Μαρδώνιον ἕνα τῶν σωματοφυλάκων ἀνεῖλεν, ὑπολαβὼν Ξέρξην ὑπάρχειν. συλληφθεὶς δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν δορυφόρων” (Gessner a satellitibus) “πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα δέσμιος ἤχθη. βουθυτεῖν δὲ τοῦ προειρημένου μέλλοντος, ἐπὶ τὸν βωμὸν τοῦ ἡλίου τὴν δεξιὰν ἐπέθηκε χεῖρα, καὶ ἀστένακτος ὑπομείνας τὴν ἀνάγκην τῶν βασάνων, ἐλευθερώθη τῶν δεσμῶν εἰπών· Τοιοῦτοι πάντες ἐσμὲν ᾿Αθηναῖοι· εἰ δ' ἀπιστεῖς, καὶ τὴν ἀριστερὰν ἐπιθήσω. φοβηθεὶς δ' ὁ Ξέρξης, φρουρεῖσθαι τὸν Ἁγησίλαον προσέταξεν” [“Xerxes landed with five million soldiers at Artemisium and declared war on the inhabitants of the place. In a state of confusion, the Athenians sent Agesilaus, the brother of Themistocles, to reconnoiter although Neocles, his father, had dreamed of him without hands. When he arrived before the crowd of barbarians, disguised as a Persian, Agesilaus killed Mardonios, one of the bodyguards, thinking he was Xerxes. He was arrested by the guards, tied up and led before the king. And when the latter was about to sacrifice an ox Agesilaus put his right hand in the brazier on the altar of the sun god, and, bearing the pain without a sound, he was freed from his bonds, then said: We Athenians, we are all of such mettle; if you do not believe me, I will put my left hand in as well. Frightened, Xerxes gave the order to put Agesilaus in irons”]. The exploit of Regulus has been judged to be a fable; that of Mucius Scaevola could be one as well, if for no other reason than when compared to this passage, which perhaps has not been noted before now.1 (Bologna, 19 Nov. 1825.) See p. 4193.

  “Μεγάλα γὰρ πρήγματα μεγάλοισι κυνδύνοισιν ἐθέλει καὶ αἱρέεσθαι” [“Great things can be achieved by facing great risks”], Herodotus, bk. 7, ch. 50 in Stobaeus, discourse 7, περὶ ἀνδρείας [“On Fortitude”].2 In Herodotus you read “ἐθέλει καταιρέεσθαι” [“wishes to seize”] (Bologna, 9 Nov. 1825.)

  Exhaustare [to exhaust], etc. See Forcellini. Coltare from colo [to till, to cultivate]. Crusca.

  Inhonorus–inhonoratus. See Forcellini.

  Αὐτίκα for verbigrazia [for example], etc. Aeschines, Dialogue 2, that is περὶ πλούτου [On Wealth], § 24, twice.3

  The best way to obtain fame is to make the world believe you are already famous. (Bologna, 21 Nov. 1825.) There is a similar saying of La Bruyère which confirms this, [4154] that it is easier to get a mediocre work appreciated because of the reputation its author has already achieved and established, than to achieve and establish a reputation with an excellent work.1

  Stephen of Byzantium under ῎Ιτων says that the city of Itonus was also called Σίτων, Sitonus.2

  Aeschines, Dialogue 3, Axiochus, section 8, speaking about life’s misfortunes at different ages: “καὶ
τοῖς” (rispetto, appetto a) “ὕστερον χαλεποῖς ἐφάνη τὰ πρῶτα παιδικὰ, καὶ νηπίων ὡς ἀληθῶς φόβητρα” [“and in comparison with the misfortunes which come afterward, the first seem childish games, and truly like children’s fears”]. Wolf printed “χαλεποῖς παραβαλλόμενα ἐφάνη,” and said that instead of “παραβαλλόμενα” you could have “συγκρινόμενα” or “ἀντεξεταζόμενα.”3 Fischer, note 52, Leipzig (Aeschinis Socratici dialogi tres), 1766, does not agree with Wolf, and says *“Why can the dative not depend on the verb ἐφάνη [to seem]?”*4 The fact is, it’s an Italianism, that is the dative stands alone in the place of rispetto or appetto a [in comparison with]. See if Forcellini has anything on this subject under ad. (Bologna, 1825, 22 Nov.).

  To look for.5—aspettare (ad–spectare).

  Rubacchiare [to pilfer]. Scrivacchiare [to scribble]. Sforacchiare [to riddle with holes]. Schiamazzare [to cackle, to clamor]. Mormoracchiare [to mumble].

  Crocire–crocitare [to caw]. See Forcellini. Sorbire–sorsare [to sip]. See Crusca and Forcellini and Glossary.

  Vagina–gUaina [sheath], eVaginare–sgUainare [to unsheath, to draw], etc. Spanish vayna, etc.

  Sopracciglia [eyebrows].

  Βρυττὸν–βρύττιον positivized diminutive. Both words mean the same thing. Hesychius.6 (Bologna, 27 Nov. 1825.)

  *“In my judgment βρύω and βρύζω are the same verb, like βλύω and βλύζω, βύω βύζω, μύω μύζω, φλύω φλύζω and others.”*7 Ignatius Liebel on Archilochus’s fragment 5, p. 70, Vienna 1818.

  Freno–Frenello [curb–muzzle]. See Crusca.

  Plutarch, De exilio, tome 8, p. 383, ed. Reiske: “᾿Αρχίλοχος τῆς [4155] Θάσου τὰ καρποφόρα καὶ οἰνόπεδα παρορῶν, διὰ τὸ τραχὺ καὶ ἀνώμαλον διέβαλε τὴν νῆσον, εἰπών.

  ῞Ηδε ὡς ὄνου ῥάχις

  ῞Εστηκεν ὕλης ἀγρίας ἀπιστεφής.”

  [“Archilochus, overlooking the fruitful fields and vineyards of Thasos, because of its steep and rugged surface, maligned it, saying:

  This island, like the backbone of an ass,

  Stands up beneath its cover of wild wood”].1

  (Thasos was the name of an island near Thrace.) On this fragment of Archilochus Jacobs observes: *“῎Ονου ῥάχις [Backbone of an ass]. The poet seems to have called the island this on account of its chain of mountains. In his commentary to the Iliad, p. 233, Eustathius has diligently collected many words referring to parts of the body which are used figuratively about the position and condition of the land (scholia to Sophocles’s Oedipus at Colonus, 691); see Wesseling to Herodotus 1, p. 35, 86. The promontory of Laconia called ὄνου γνάθον [jaw of an ass] commemorates Pausanias 3, 22, p. 431, ed. Facius. And I do not think that ὄνου ῥάχις [backbone of an ass] was Archilochus’s own name for the island, rather the name of this mountain region.”* Jacobs, Animadversiones on the Anthology, vol. 1. § 1, pp. 165ff. in Liebel loc. cit. above, fragment 9, p. 79.2 Here note our schiena d’asino or a schiena d’asino [like a donkey’s back, cambered], with reference to roads, etc. (Bologna, 27 Nov. 1825, Sunday.)

  *“῞Εστηκεν [stands] i.e., ἐστὶν [is]. Odyssey, 17, 439 ‘περὶ κακὰ πάντοθεν ἔστη’ [‘we were surrounded by misfortunes on all sides’]. Chariton, bk. 3, ch. 5, p. 51, 10 ‘τότε γὰρ ἔτι χειμὼν ἑστήκει’ [‘then it is still winter’], see D’Orville, who shows that this verb often stands for εἰμὶ [to be] to give emphasis, as stare [to stay] with the Latins, p. 303. As in Horace, bk. 2., ode 9, 5: ‘Nec stat glacies iners Menses per omnes’ [‘nor do glaciers stand still month after month’]. See ibid. Mitscherlich”* (interpreter, that is, commentator of Horace) Liebel, loc. cit. above.3

  Mercari, Italian mercare–mercatare [to trade] (Spanish, unless I am mistaken, mercatar),4 hence mercatante [merchant] nominalized participle, and then mercatantare, mercatanzia, etc., and mercadante, etc.

  [4156] Sfallare [to mistake, be mistaken], sfalsare [to avoid, to parry], sfallire [to fail], add to what I said [→Z 3488, 3772] on falsare [to falsify], etc.

  Calcagna [heels].

  Sorbillo as [to sip]. See Forcellini.

  Frega–fregola [heat, sexual desire–itch].

  ᾿Αλλ' ἄνα for come on, take courage, Homer, Iliad, bk. 9, l. 247; Odyssey, bk. 18, 13. “῎Ανα” (come on) “δυσδαίμων πεδόθεν κεφαλὴν ἐπάειρε” [“come on, unhappy one, lift your head from the ground”], Euripides, The Trojan Women, l. 98. (Liebel, loc. cit. above, p. 105, fragment 32)1—Su, orsù, etc.

  “᾿Επειδὴ Ζεὺς πατὴρ ᾿Ολυμπίων ᾿Εκ μεσημβρίας ἔθηκε” (made) “νυκτ', ἀποκρύψας φάος ῾Ηλίου λάμποντος” [“from when Zeus, father of the Olympians, turned midday into night, hiding the light of the glorious sun”] Archilochus in Stobaeus, discourse 109, περὶ ἐλπίδος [“On Hope”], in Liebel, fragment 31, p. 100, loc. cit. above.2

  “Καρδίης πλέως,” says Archilochus (fragment 34, p. 110, loc. cit. above in Galenus, Dio, Scholiast of Theocritus, etc.) perhaps referred to a General, and we would say, pien di cuore [full of heart]. Italianism.3 See the Lexicons.

  Ancient grief. It was a common way of expressing misfortune, etc., to say that someone lay on the ground, that is that he rolled about in the dust, and Archilochus (in Stobaeus, discourse 20, περὶ ὀργῆς [“On Anger”], fragment 32, p. 103, loc. cit. above) says: “καὶ μήτε νικῶν ἀμφάδην” (φανερῶς) “ἀγάλλεο, Μηδὲ νικηθεὶς ἐν οἴκῳ καταπεσὼν ὀδύρεο” [“when you are conqueror, do not boast in public, when you are conquered, do not weep indoors, throwing yourself on the ground”].4 “Aristophanes, Clouds, l. 126: ‘᾿Αλλ' οὐδ' ἐγὼ μέντοι πεσών γε κείσομαι’ [‘Though fallen, I will not lie prostrate’], i.e., ἀθυμήσω [I will not lose heart]” (Liebel, loc. cit. above, p. 106, on fragment 32). Archilochus again (fragment 33, p. 107, in Stobaeus, discourse 103), meaning men overwhelmed by disaster, says: “῎Ανδρας μελαίνῃ κειμένους ἐπὶ χθονί” [“men lying on the dark ground”].5 In Homer (Iliad 18, 26) Achilles having heard about the death of Patroclus throws himself on the ground, and likewise Priam after Hector’s death, and Hecuba (in the Hecuba of Sophocles or Euripides, ll. 486, 496)6 lies prostrate on the ground weeping for her own and her family’s misfortunes, and Sisygambis, Darius’s mother, when she heard about the death of Alexander, threw herself on the ground. Curtius, 10, 5. See p. 4243.

  [4157] “῎Αλλ' ἔνι λόγος” (ratio docet) “καὶ σὺν τούτοις” (con tutto questo, ciò non ostante, con questo) “παρίστασθαι τῷ φίλῳ καὶ πατρίδι συγκινδυνεύειν” [“But reason directs us all the same to help a friend or share the danger with our country”], Epictetus, Encheiridion, ch. 39. “Κᾂν σὺν τούτοις” (e se contuttociò) “ἐλθεῖν καθήκῃ, φέρε τὰ γινόμενα” [“And if, all the same, it is your duty to go, you should go and endure whatever happens”]. Ibid., chapter 52.1 (Bologna, 3 Dec., Feast of St. Francis Xavier, 1825.)

  Rome, the most important and most powerful city ever in the world, was also the only one destined, and you could say regularly condemned, to obey foreign rule, and not because she was conquered or for any extraordinary incident. It happened in ancient times, under the Emperors (Trajan, Maximinus, etc. etc.), and then again in modern times under the Popes (many of whom were not Italians), and in both periods it became a custom and fundamental principle of State, that is that the Prince of Rome could be not Roman and not Italian. So the first city of the world, and Italy too, first province of the world, seems by a strange contradiction and turn of fate to have
been condemned (at the very time its dominion flourished most, temporally as well as spiritually) unlike all other states to a legitimate, peaceful, and not cruel servitude, as if it had been conquered. (Bologna, 1 Dec. 1825.)

  Onestato for onesto [honest]. Crusca. Curato, curé, etc., for che cura [caring, acting as guardian], nominalized participle.

  Cansado for que cansa [tiring]. Divertido for que divierte [amusing].

  Laurus–laurel [laurel tree]. (Spanish).

  Σκύτος or σκύτη [skin], etc.—σκυτὶς [leather amulet]. Κύρτη–κυρτὶς [lobster pot, sieve]. κιθάρα–κίθαρις [lyre].

  [4158] *“Eustathius, Odyssey, bk. 5, tome 3, p. 1542, Roman ed. where he informs us that τρὶς [thrice] in different phrases means πολὺ, πολλάκις, ἄγαν [much, often, too much], to illustrate which he quotes a passage from Archilochus (‘Θάσον δὲ τὴν τρισοϊζυρὴν πόλιν’ [‘Thasos the thrice-wretched city’]) and interprets it as λίαν ὀϊζυρὰν [too wretched]. Likewise Virgil: ‘O ter quaterque beati’ [‘O three and four times blessed’]. And a German poet: ‘O dreymal glückliches Land!’ [‘O thrice happy land!’].”* Liebel, loc. cit. above, fragm. 92, p. 202.1 Similarly τρισιόλβιος, [thrice happy] τρισμάκαρ [thrice blessed], etc. etc. (Bologna, 6 Dec. 1825.) Gallicism.

  “Perocchè” (l’uomo) “non era servo se non di Dio, il quale doveva amare con tutto il cuore, senza altro compagno” [“Since” (man) “was a servant only of God, whom he was to love with all his heart, without any companion”].2 Cavalca, Specchio di croce, ch. 4, toward the end, Brescia 1822, p. 13.

  Uomo pesato that is considerato [prudent], etc. Crusca and see the Veronese Crusca on posato [composed, calm]. Riposato, posato. See the Crusca. Riserbato [reserved] ibid. Perversato for perverso [depraved].

  Spiare–spieggiare [to spy]. Sortire–sorteggiare [to give by lot, to be given by lot–to decide by lots]. Stormeggiare, stormeggiata [to swarm, a swarm].