Macaronic language uses a mixture of

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

s, particularly

bilingual pun A bilingual pun is a pun created by a word or phrase in one language sounding similar to a different word or phrase in another language. The result of a bilingual pun is often a joke that makes sense in more than one language. A bilingual pun can ...

s or situations in which the languages are otherwise used in the same context (rather than simply discrete segments of a text being in different languages). Hybrid words are effectively "internally macaronic." In spoken language,

code-switching In linguistics, code-switching or language alternation occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation or situation. Code-switching is different from plurilingualis ...

is using more than one language or dialect within the same conversation. Macaronic Latin in particular is a jumbled

jargon Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The context is usually a partic ...

made up of

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

words given

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

endings or of Latin words mixed with the vernacular in a

pastiche A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking i ...

(compare dog Latin). The word '' macaronic'' comes from the

New Latin New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...

''macaronicus'' which is from the Italian ''maccarone'' ("dumpling," regarded as coarse peasant fare). It is generally derogatory and used when the mixing of languages has a humorous or

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...

intent or effect but is sometimes applied to more serious mixed-language literature.

History

Mixed Latin-vernacular lyrics in Medieval Europe

Texts that mixed Latin and

vernacular language A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

apparently arose throughout Europe at the end of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

—a time when Latin was still the working language of scholars, clerics and university students, but was losing ground to vernacular among poets,

minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer ...

s and storytellers. An early example is from 1130, in the

Gospel book A Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels (Greek: , ''Evangélion'') is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament – normally all four – centering on the life of Jesus of Nazareth ...

Munsterbilzen Abbey Munsterbilzen Abbey was an abbey of Benedictine nuns in Munsterbilzen, Limburg, Belgium, founded in around 670 by Saint Landrada. It was plundered by Vikings in 881 but restored. From the 9th century it was dedicated to Saint Amor. It was an i ...

. The following sentence mixes late

Old Dutch In linguistics, Old Dutch (Dutch: Oudnederlands) or Old Low Franconian (Dutch: Oudnederfrankisch) is the set of Franconian dialects (i.e. dialects that evolved from Frankish) spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages, from aro ...

and Latin:

Tesi samanunga was edele unde scona et omnium virtutum pleniter plena

Translated: ''This community was noble and pure, and completely full of all virtues.'' The '' Carmina Burana'' (collected c.1230) contains several poems mixing Latin with Medieval German or French. Another well-known example is the first stanza of the famous carol '' In Dulci Jubilo'', whose original version (written around 1328) had Latin mixed with German, with a hint of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

. While some of those early works had a clear humorous intent, many use the language mix for lyrical effect. Another early example is in the

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old Englis ...

recitals '' The Towneley Plays'' (c.1460). In '' The Talents'' (play 24),

Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of ...

delivers a rhyming speech in mixed English and Latin. A number of English political poems in the 14th century alternated (Middle) English and Latin lines, such as in MS Digby 196:

The taxe hath tened uinedvs alle, Probat hoc mors tot validorum The Kyng þerof had small fuit in manibus cupidorum. yt had ful hard hansell, dans causam fine dolorum; vengeaunce nedes most fall, propter peccata malorum ''(etc)''

Several

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short s ...

s also contain both Latin and English. In the case of 'Nolo mortem pecatoris' by

Thomas Morley Thomas Morley (1557 – early October 1602) was an English composer, theorist, singer and organist of the Renaissance. He was one of the foremost members of the English Madrigal School. Referring to the strong Italian influence on the Engl ...

, the Latin is used as a refrain:

Nolo mortem peccatoris; Haec sunt verba Salvatoris. Father I am thine only Son, sent down from heav’n mankind to save. Father, all things fulfilled and done according to thy will, I have. Father, my will now all is this: Nolo mortem peccatoris. Father, behold my painful smart, taken for man on ev’ry side; Ev'n from my birth to death most tart, no kind of pain I have denied, but suffered all, and all for this: Nolo mortem peccatoris.

Translated: "'I do not wish the death of the wicked'; These are the words of the Saviour." An allusion to John 3:17 and 2 Peter 3:9.

Latin–Italian macaronic verse

The term ''macaronic'' is believed to have originated in

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

in the late 15th century, apparently from ''maccarona'', a kind of pasta or

dumpling Dumpling is a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of dough (made from a variety of starch sources), oftentimes wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, flour, buckwheat or potatoes, and may be filled with meat, ...

eaten by peasants at that time. (That is also the presumed origin of ''

maccheroni Macaroni (, Italian: maccheroni) is dry pasta shaped like narrow tubes.Oxford DictionaryMacaroni/ref> Made with durum wheat, macaroni is commonly cut in short lengths; curved macaroni may be referred to as elbow macaroni. Some home machines ...

''.) Its association with the genre comes from the '' Macaronea'', a comical poem by

Tifi Odasi __NOTOC__ Michele di Bartolomeo degli Odasi (c. 1450–1492), pen name Tifi (dagli) Odasi ( Latinized as ''Tifetus'' or ''Typhis Odaxius''), was an Italian poet and author of macaronic verse. Very little is known of his biography, apart that he wa ...

in mixed Latin and Italian, published in 1488 or 1489. Another example of the genre is '' Tosontea'' by Corrado of Padua, which was published at about the same time as Tifi's ''Macaronea''. Tifi and his contemporaries clearly intended to

satirize Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

the broken Latin used by many doctors, scholars and bureaucrats of their time. While this "macaronic Latin" (''macaronica verba'') could be due to ignorance or carelessness, it could also be the result of its speakers trying to make themselves understood by the vulgar folk without resorting to their speech. An important and unusual example of mixed-language text is the '' Hypnerotomachia Poliphili'' of Francesco Colonna (1499), which was basically written using Italian syntax and morphology, but using a made-up vocabulary based on roots from Latin,

, and occasionally others. However, while the ''Hypnerotomachia'' is contemporary with Tifi's ''Macaronea'', its mixed language is not used for plain humor, but rather as an aesthetic device to underscore the fantastic but refined nature of the book. Tifi's ''Macaronea'' was a popular success, and the writing of humorous texts in macaronic Latin became a fad in the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly in Italian, but also in many other European languages. An important Italian example was '' Baldo'' by Teofilo Folengo, who described his own verses as "a gross, rude, and rustic mixture of flour, cheese, and butter".The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford University Press (1996)

Other mixed-language lyrics

Macaronic verse is especially common in cultures with widespread

bilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all ...

language contact Language contact occurs when speakers of two or more languages or varieties interact and influence each other. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics. When speakers of different languages interact closely, it is typical for th ...

, such as Ireland before the middle of the nineteenth century. Macaronic traditional songs such as '' Siúil A Rúin'' are quite common in Ireland. In Scotland, macaronic songs have been popular among

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

immigrants to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

, using English and

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

as a device to express the alien nature of the anglophone environment. An example: Folk and popular music of the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

frequently alternates between Spanish and the given

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

language of its region of origin. Some Classical Persian poems were written with alternating Persian and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

verses or hemistichs, most famously by Saadi and

Hafez Khwāje Shams-od-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī ( fa, خواجه شمس‌‌الدین محمّد حافظ شیرازی), known by his pen name Hafez (, ''Ḥāfeẓ'', 'the memorizer; the (safe) keeper'; 1325–1390) and as "Hafiz", ...

. Such poems were called ''molamma (, literally "speckled", plural ''molamma‘āt'' ), Residing in

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, in some of his poems

Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ( fa, جلال‌الدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (), Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( fa, مولانا, lit= our master) and Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( fa, مولوی, lit= my ma ...

mixed Persian with Arabic as well as the local languages of Turkish and

. Macaronic verse was also common in

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

India, where the influence of the Muslim rulers led to poems being written in alternating indigenous

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

and the Persian language. This style was used by the famous poet Amir Khusro and played a major role in the rise of the

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Hindustani language Hindustani (; Devanagari: , * * * * ; Perso-Arabic: , , ) is the '' lingua franca'' of Northern and Central India and Pakistan. Hindustani is a pluricentric language with two standard registers, known as Hindi and Urdu. Thus, the lang ...

Unintentional macaronic language

Occasionally language is unintentionally macaronic. One particularly famed piece of schoolyard Greek in France is

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; grc, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Greek mercenary armies o ...

's line "they did not take the city; but in fact they had no hope of taking it" (, ''ouk élabon pólin; álla gàr elpìs éphē kaká''). Read in the French manner, this becomes "Où qu'est la bonne Pauline? A la gare. Elle pisse et fait caca." ("Where is Pauline the maid? At the ailwaystation. She's pissing and taking a shit.") In

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

, the untranslated line makes an appearance in

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...

's ''

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction which combines a bod ...

''.

Modern macaronic literature

Prose

Macaronic text is still used by modern Italian authors, e.g. by

Carlo Emilio Gadda Carlo Emilio Gadda (; November 14, 1893 – May 21, 1973) was an Italian writer and poet. He belongs to the tradition of the language innovators, writers that played with the somewhat stiff standard pre-war Italian language, and added elements o ...

and

Beppe Fenoglio Beppe Fenoglio (; born Giuseppe Fenoglio 1 March 1922 in Alba (CN) – 18 February 1963 in Turin) was an Italian writer, partisan and translator from English. The works of Fenoglio have two main themes: the rural world of the Langhe and the ...

. Other examples are provided by the character Salvatore in

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel ''The Name of th ...

's ''

The Name of the Rose ''The Name of the Rose'' ( it, Il nome della rosa ) is the 1980 debut novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, and an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in ficti ...

'', and the peasant hero of his '' Baudolino''.

Dario Fo Dario Luigi Angelo Fo (; 24 March 1926 – 13 October 2016) was an Italian playwright, actor, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter, political campaigner for the Italian left wing and the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. ...

's '' Mistero Buffo'' ("''Comic Mystery Play''") features grammelot sketches using language with macaronic elements. The 2001 novel '' The Last Samurai'' by Helen DeWittDeWitt, Helen. ''The Last Samurai'' (Chatto and Windus, 2000: ; Vintage, 2001: ) includes portions of Japanese,

Classical Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

, and

Inuktitut Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...

, although the reader is not expected to understand the passages that are not in English. Macaronic games are used by the literary group

Oulipo Oulipo (, short for french: Ouvroir de littérature potentielle; roughly translated: ''"workshop of potential literature"'', stylized ''OuLiPo'') is a loose gathering of (mainly) French-speaking writers and mathematicians who seek to create work ...

in the form of interlinguistic homophonic transformation: replacing a known phrase with homophones from another language. The archetypal example is by

François Le Lionnais François Le Lionnais (3 October 1901 – 13 March 1984) was a French chemical engineer and writer. He was a co-founder of the literary movement Oulipo. Biography Le Lionnais was born in Paris on 3 October 1901. Trained as a chemical en ...

, who transformed

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...

' "A thing of beauty is a joy forever" into "Un singe de beauté est un jouet pour l'hiver": 'A monkey of beauty is a toy for the winter'. Another example is the book ''

Mots d'Heures ''Mots D'Heures: Gousses, Rames: The D'Antin Manuscript'' (''Mother Goose Rhymes''), published in 1967 by Luis d'Antin van Rooten, is purportedly a collection of poems written in archaic French with learned glosses. In fact, they are English-lan ...

''. Macaronisms figure prominently in ''

The Trilogy The Trilogy (1884-1888) is a series of three novels written by the Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz. The series follows dramatized versions of famous events in Polish history, weaving fact and fiction. It is considered great literary work on pa ...

'' by the Polish novelist

Henryk Sienkiewicz Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish writer, novelist, journalist and Nobel Prize laureate. He is best remembered for his historical novels, espe ...

, and are one of the major compositional principles for James Joyce's novel ''

''. In

Michael Flynn Michael Thomas Flynn (born December 24, 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general and conspiracy theorist who was the 24th U.S. National Security Advisor for the first 22 days of the Trump administration. He resigned in light of ...

's science fiction novels of the Spiral Arm series, a massive interplanetary exodus from all Earth language groups has led to star system settlements derived from random language and culture admixtures. At the time of the novels' setting, several hundred years later, each planet has developed a macaronic pidgin, several of which are used for all the dialogs in the books. The Reverend Fergus Butler-Gallie's second book bears a cross-lingual pun as its title, ''Priests de la Résistance''.

Poetry

Two well-known examples of non-humorous macaronic verse are

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

's ''

Maid of Athens, ere we part "Maid of Athens, ere we part" is a poem by Lord Byron, written in 1810 and dedicated to a young girl of Athens.English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald. The Harvard Classics (1909–1914) It begins: Each stanza of the poem ends with the ...

'' (1810, in English with a

refrain); and Pearsall's translation of the carol ''In Dulci Jubilo'' (1837, in mixed English and Latin verse). An example of modern humorous macaronic verse is the anonymous English/Latin poem '' Carmen Possum'' ("''The Opossum's Song''"), which is sometimes used as a teaching and motivational aid in elementary Latin language classes. Other similar examples are '' The Motor Bus'' by A. D. Godley, and the anonymous '' Up I arose in verno tempore''.

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

's '' The Cantos'' makes use of Chinese, Greek, Latin, and Italian, among other languages. Recent examples are the ''mużajki'' or 'mosaics' (2007) of Maltese poet Antoine CassarGrech, Marija
"Mosaics: A symphony of multilingual poetry"
, ''The Daily Star'' (Kuwait), 25 August 2007 mixing English, Spanish, Maltese, Italian, and French; works of Italian writer Guido Monte; and the late poetry of Ivan Blatný combining Czech with English.Wheatley, David
"The Homeless Tongue: Ivan Blatný"
. ''

Contemporary Poetry Review Garrick Davis (born 1971 in Los Angeles) is an American poet and critic. He was Poetry Editor of '' First Things'' magazine from 2020 until 2021. Career Davis is the founding editor of the ''Contemporary Poetry Review'', the largest online ar ...

'', 2008.

Brian P. Cleary Brian P. Cleary, (born October 1, 1959) is an American humorist, poet, United States patent holder, inventor and author. He is the trademark holder for Fab-u-List (TM) Books (Serial number 90562144), a line of gift books for grownups. The bow-tie ...

's "What Can I C'est?" makes use of macaronic verse, as do other poems in his book ''Rainbow Soup: Adventures in Poetry'': A whole body of comic verse exists created by John O'Mill, pseudonym of Johan van der Meulen, a teacher of English at the Rijks HBS (State Grammar School),

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. These are in a mixture of English and Dutch, often playing on common mistakes made when translating from the latter to the former.

Theatre

The finale of act 1 of

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

Savoy Opera Savoy opera was a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impr ...

Iolanthe ''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...

'' has several instances of humorous macaronic verse. First, the three lords mix Italian and Latin phrases into their discussion of Iolanthe's age:

Lord Mountararat: This gentleman is seen, / With a maid of seventeen, / A-taking of his ''dolce far niente''...
Lord Chancellor: Recollect yourself, I pray, / And be careful what you say- / As the ancient Romans said, ''festina lente''...
Lord Tolloller: I have often had a use / For a thorough-bred excuse / Of a sudden (which is English for ''repente'')...
Lord Mountararat: Now, listen, pray to me, / For this paradox will be / Carried, nobody at all ''contradicente''...

Then, the chorus of peers sing macaronic verse as they attempt to resist the fairies' powers:

Our lordly style you shall not quench with base ''canaille''! (That word is French.)
Distinction ebbs before a herd of vulgar ''plebs''! (A Latin word.)
Twould fill with joy and madness stark the ''oι πoλλoί''! (A Greek remark.)
One Latin word, one Greek remark, and one that's French.

Film

'Macaronisms' are frequently used in films, especially comedies. In

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is conside ...

anti-war An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to p ...

comedy ''

The Great Dictator ''The Great Dictator'' is a 1940 American anti-war political satire black comedy film written, directed, produced, scored by, and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin, following the tradition of many of his other films. Having been the onl ...

'', the title character speaks English mixed with a parody of German (e.g. "Cheese-und-cracken"). This was also used by Benzino Napaloni, the parody character of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

, using Italian foods (such as

salami Salami ( ) is a cured sausage consisting of fermented and air-dried meat, typically pork. Historically, salami was popular among Southern, Eastern, and Central European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for up to 45 ...

and ravioli) as insults. Other movies featuring macaronic language are the Italian historical comedies '' L'armata Brancaleone'' and ''

Brancaleone alle crociate ''Brancaleone at the Crusades'' ( it, Brancaleone alle Crociate) is an Italian comedy film directed by Mario Monicelli and released in 1970, the sequel to ''L'armata Brancaleone''. Plot The film starts where ''L'armata Brancaleone'' has ended. B ...

'' (d.

Mario Monicelli Mario Alberto Ettore Monicelli (; 16 May 1915 – 29 November 2010) was an Italian film director and screenwriter and one of the masters of the '' Commedia all'Italiana'' (Comedy Italian style). He was nominated six times for an Oscar, and was a ...

), which mix modern and medieval Italian as well as Latin (sometimes in rhyme, and sometimes with regional connotations, such as the

Italo-Normans The Italo-Normans ( it, Italo-Normanni), or Siculo-Normans (''Siculo-Normanni'') when referring to Sicily and Southern Italy, are the Italian-born descendants of the first Norman conquerors to travel to southern Italy in the first half of ...

using words from modern Sicilian).

Song

A macaronic song is one that combines multiple languages. Macaronic songs have been particularly common in Ireland ( Irish–English) and also occur for other languages, such as

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

–Ukrainian. Macaronic language appearing in popular songs include

Rammstein Rammstein (, "ramming stone") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Berlin in 1994. The band's lineup—consisting of lead vocalist Till Lindemann, lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, rhythm guitarist Paul Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, ...

's " Amerika" (German and English), the

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

’ " Michelle", the

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talki ...

" Psycho Killer" and

The Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, romance, and ...

's "

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

" (French and English),

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...

's " Spanish Bombs", José Feliciano's " Feliz Navidad" (Spanish and English), and

JJ Lin Wayne Lin Junjie (; born 27 March 1981), better known by his stage name JJ Lin, is a Singaporean singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Lin launched his musical career by releasing his debut album '' Music Voyager'' (2003). GIO, Taiwa ...

's track entitled trilingually as "只對你說 Sarang Heyo 사랑해요" 只對你說 (Mandarin, English, and Korean).

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Macaronic Language Latin language Language games Cultural exchange

History

Mixed Latin-vernacular lyrics in Medieval Europe

Latin–Italian macaronic verse

Other mixed-language lyrics

Unintentional macaronic language

Modern macaronic literature

Prose

Poetry

Theatre

Film

Song

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography