Italian profanity

Italian profanity (, : , when referred to religious topics; , : , when not) are profanities that are blasphemous or inflammatory in the Italian language.

The Italian language is a language with a large set of inflammatory terms and phrases, almost all of which originate from the several dialects and languages of Italy, such as the Tuscan dialect, which had a very strong influence in modern standard Italian, and is widely known to be based on the Florentine language. Several of these words have cognates in other Romance languages, such as Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, and French.

Profanities differ from region to region, but a number of them are diffused enough to be more closely associated to the Italian language, and are featured in all the more popular Italian dictionaries.

List of profanities in the Italian language

* : () used in the same context as the English "damn", either as an exclamation when something goes wrong or to wish harm (such as accidents) on someone (e.g. , which can be translated as "damn you").
* : sexually arouse someone.
** : sexually aroused
** : something or someone that arouses sexually, sexy
** or : sexual arousal
* (pl. ) : whore.
* (pl. ): bastard.
* /: (referring to the penis) partially erect.
* (pl. ) : blowjob.
* ( is usually more common in Southern Italy. See Regional varieties of the Italian language): to shit, to defecate. It is used idiomatically to mean "to give a fuck" or, typically, "not to give a fuck" (with the verb in a negative form) about someone: ("At school, nobody gives a fuck about me"). Cognate with Spanish and Portuguese , ultimately from Latin .
** : Bullshit, crap.
** : fuck you, fuck off.
* : the glans of the penis.
** : to lower the foreskin to uncover the glans.
* (pl. ) : () used in countless expressions to convey a variety of emotions such as anger, frustration, or surprise in a way similar to how ‘fuck’ is used in English.
** : fuck/shit/hell.
** : what the hell/fuck.
** /: for fuck’s sake!, oh come on!, seriously?!?
** : what the hell/fuck are you doing?
** : bullshit.
** : cock up your ass.
** : dick-head.
** : to get pissed off.
** : pissed off; : really pissed off.
** : rage, anger.
** : someone who gets angry easily.
** : to fuck around.
** : the act of fucking around.
** (): stupid and foolish person.
** : very smart and tough person, badass.
** : this word has many meanings: to annoy, bore, irritate someone, to fight with someone, to make somebody angry, to talk bullshit and to make mistakes.
** : bored or angry person.
** : difficult situation, boredom or fight, quarrel.
* (pl. ) : a vulgar version of testicle; when referring to a person, it usually means idiot, berk, twit, fool. In addition, it can be used in several phrases, such as:
** (), to be very courageous.
** (), to be angry/in a bad mood.
** (), being fed up/have had enough/be sick and tired of something.
** , to be a jerk or fool.
Note that when said to a close friend (), the word is not really offensive. was also featured in worldwide news when used by ex Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, referring to those who would not vote for him during the 2006 Italian election campaign. It derives from Latin (pl. ), and is thus cognate to the Spanish and Portuguese .
** : speech or action of a stupid person.
** or : behavior or action of a stupid person, fuckwittery.
** : to make fun of someone, to deride.
** or : mockery, derision.
** : a person who make fun of someone, mocker.
** : mocking, derisive.
** : to annoy, to irritate someone.
** : annoyed, irritated person.
** or : boredom, irritation.
** : to make someone stupid or to become stupid.
** : person who has become stupid or who is acting stupid.
** : the action and the result of becoming stupid.
** or : unbearable and irritating person, pain in the ass.
* (pl. ) : () cuckold, referring to a male whose female partner is cheating on him (or vice versa in the feminine form ). Occasionally, it might be accompanied by the corna gesture when the word is used as a direct insult. In Southern Italy, it is considered a rough insult.
* (pl. ) : a crude term for "buttocks", comparable to the English word "ass" or "arse". It can also mean luck, as in ("it's just/all luck") or ("what a stroke of luck!" or "lucky bastard!" depending on tone and context). The popular expression () indicates a cheeky, brazen-faced person. In some southern regions, () is used as a variant of , both indicating dislike for someone. It derives from Latin . In Northern Italy, may also translate as "faggot", see entries below:
** (pl. ): faggot.
** : to sodomize or (figurative) to cheat. can also be used for thieving, e.g. = "A boor behind the corner wanted to steal my Vespa". In Northern Italy the reflexive form ' ( "to sodomize oneself") may be used to tell someone to "go fuck themself".
* : () extremely rude and strong profanity used as an exclamation like "God damn!"; considered blasphemous by religious individuals, similar to ' and '.
* (pl. ): () fingering, female masturbation.
** : to stimulate the female genitalia with fingers, to fingerfuck.
* (pl. ): (); dick; common in Tuscany.
* or (pl. or ) : pussy. In past times, it was also the name of an obscene gesture called . It also means sexy, hot, and attractive if referring to a woman (or a man when saying ) Contrary to popular belief, is not necessarily an offensive term. If referring to a guy (), it means someone really cool, a stud, someone "who always knows how to get pussy." may also mean someone really skilled in doing something. When referring to a woman, the term means "smoking hot". The derived term means something cool. A less common synonym, mainly used in Rome and Naples respectively, is and . (even if , m. , can simply mean pussy, but also stupid girl)
* (pl. ) : () a male homosexual; faggot; poof. A suggestive and very popular hypothesis suggests it may derive from the age of the Holy Inquisition in the Papal State, when fennel seeds would be thrown on homosexuals executed by burning at the stake—in order to mitigate the stench of burned flesh. However, there is no proof that this is the case.
* to fuck, commonly used in the expression meaning "go and get fucked," or "go fuck yourself"; and are synonyms, used in the North and in the South, respectively.
* (pl. ) : roughly equivalent to the American "faggot", this term originated in Rome, but is now widely used nationwide. Less-used synonyms include: (mainly Southern Italy, especially in Campania); or (mainly in Northern Italy); (common in Emilia-Romagna, and also a rough synonym for "lucky"); or (common in Tuscany); and (see). The usage of this word in Italian may be considered by some individuals as homophobic and politically incorrect.
* (pl. ) : typical Bolognese version of ; is mostly conjugated in its feminine form, although sometimes can be used in the masculine form. Although very vulgar, it is not offensive, but instead complimentary. Indeed, it is used nationwide to refer to an attractive woman.
* (): to ingravidate, to knock up
* () clitoris, clit.
** : to stimulate the clitoris.
* : () slut, used to insult or label a woman who is overly sexual or sexually promiscuous; common in Tuscany and Umbria.
* : a generic expression of frustration, mostly used in Southern Italy. It is not considered particularly vulgar or insulting, and is most often used jokingly; often translated as "damn" in English. The term comes from the contraction of a former utterance, "," which in Neapolitan language means "may he/she get mischief out of it." Also used in books written in English, such as Mario Puzo's '' The Fortunate Pilgrim''.
* (pl. ) : roughly the same as English word "shit". Cognate to Spanish and French .
** : to shame, to take down a peg or two.
* (pl. ) : same meaning of ; according to some sources, it may be the contraction of the Latin ("of unknown mother"), where the note ("son of unknown mother") appeared in the registries that referred to abandoned children; other sources derive it from the French ("to caress") or .
* (pl. ) : the same meaning as , but notably a feminine name. Originates from Sicilian language; nowadays, it is common anywhere in Italy, where it is also used as exclamation of surprise, or even appreciation. It derives from Latin .
** : Dickhead.
** : Muggins, simpleton, fool.
** : Bullshit, crap.
** : Damn! Shit! Hell!
** : Stupid kid, especially referring to internet users.
* (pl. ): dialectic form of "cunt" or "pussy." Commonly used in North Eastern Italy, more specifically in Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
* or : () testicle, used chiefly in the plural form.
** : what a pain in the ass!
* : () doggy-style.
* : to piss.
** : act of urinating, the emitted urine.
** or : urine, piss.
** : urinal, pisser.
** : covered in piss, pissy.
* : () extremely rude and strong profanity used as an exclamation; considered blasphemous by religious individuals.
* : () also , extremely rude and strong profanity used as an exclamation like "God damn!"; considered blasphemous by religious individuals.
* (pl. ): () blowjob.
* (pl. ): () blowjob.
** (f. , pl. ): cock-sucker, person prone to perform oral sexual activities. More often used towards women.
* (pl. ) : whore, prostitute.
** : (), to go with prostitutes, idiomatically it also means "to fall apart" or "go to shit", used when something fails, collapses or is ruined.
** : crap, bullshit, rubbish.
** : brothel or "fuckload."
** : whoremonger, pimp.
** : to walk the streets, to be a prostitute.
** : the act of walking the streets, the behavior of a prostitute.
** : prostitution.
** : of a prostitute, typical of a prostitute.
** : a young prostitute or a promiscuous girl.
** : to discredit.
** or : the action of discrediting someone
** : that has been discredited
** : the same thing as
* (pl. ) : faggot.
* (or ; related verb: ): cum.
* to cum, to jizz, to spooge
* : to fuck ().
* (pl. ) : fart.
* (pl. ) : wank, handjob. Literally, the term could be translated as "saw." The derivative verb is not only (which, in this context, is usually used in the reflexive form "segarsi"), but more commonly (get a handjob / rom yourself; to jerk off.
** : wanker.
** : mook, loser.
** (): lightweight, pipsqueak.
* (pl. ''spagnole''): () titty-fuck, tit-job.
* (pl. ): Literally "without pussy." Has the meaning of "bad luck." A typical exclamation when something goes wrong in Italy is ("What a bad luck!")
** (pl. ): Literally means "without ," in English "without pussy." It can be translated as "loser", "unlucky" or "uncool" person.
* : to give birth, or, to abort
* (pl. ) : Literally " turd", but also "arsehole" or " asshole", "bitch", " idiot", " stupid", "sod." It is used as an adjective to indicate that somebody is really a bad, cruel man/woman.
* (pl. ) , (): bitch, slut, slovenly woman or whore.
* : "fuck you!", "fuck off!", "bugger off!". A contraction of (literally "go do tin the ass"). is the Romanesco form for , while in Northern Italy (lit. "go to shit") is also used, (), ("go fuck yourself") or ''"inculati"'' ("sodomize yourself"). In the Neapolitan language, it is pronounced ; and at times, the "''va"'' is omitted, as demonstrated in the film '' Grease'' (at the end of the "Sandra Dee" skit, performed by Stockard Channing).
* (pl. ) : slut, whore; bitch; also means "sewer rat."

Profanity in literature

Italian writers have often used profanity for the "spice" it adds to their publications. This is an example from a seventeenth century collection of tales, the ''Pentamerone'', by the Neapolitan Giambattista Basile:

This tirade could be translated from Neapolitan as follows:

"Ah, good for nothing, feather, full of shit, bed-pisser, jack of the harpsichord, shirt on the arse, loop of the hanged, hard-headed mule! Look, now also lice cough loudly! Go, that palsy get you, that your mom get the bad news, that you cannot see the first of May. Go, that a Catalan spear pass through you, that a rope be tied around your neck, so that your blood won't be lost, that one thousand illnesses, and someone more, befall you, coming in full wind; that your name be lost, brigand, penniless, son of a whore, thief!"

Francis Ford Coppola had some characters in ''The Godfather'' use untranslated profanity. For instance, when Sonny Corleone found out that Paulie Gatto had sold out his father to the Barzinis, he called Gatto "that ." Also, when Connie Corleone learned Carlo Rizzi was cheating on her, Carlo snapped: "Hey, , eh?" Connie then yelled back, "I'll you!"

Blasphemous profanity

Profanities in the original meaning of blasphemous profanity are part of the ancient tradition of the comic cults, which laughed and scoffed at the deity. In Europe during the Middle Ages, the most improper and sinful "oaths" were those invoking the body of the Lord and its various parts—such as Bergamo dialect expression ("Christ's cunt")—which resulted in these oaths being used the most frequently.

Nowadays, the most common kind of blasphemous profanity involves the name of God (), Christ (), Jesus (), or the Virgin Mary (), combined with an insult or sometimes an animal—the most used being ("pig"), as in ("God s apig") and ("the Virgin Mary s apig"); or ("dog"), as in ("God s adog").

Common blasphemous profanities in Italian are: (often written or also , more rarely as ); ("God s adog"); ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and with "Fauss" meaning "false, hypocrite" in Piedmont dialect (or , more colloquially).

Another common formula for blasphemy combines a divinity, an animal and an atrocious death, like in .

In some areas of Italy, such as Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Umbria, Marche, Lazio, Abruzzo, Emilia Romagna, Piedmont, Lombardy, and Tuscany, blasphemy is more common, but not because of a strong anti-Catholic sentiment. Tuscany and Veneto are the regions where is most common, and in these areas, blasphemy appears in the everyday speech almost as an ordinary interjection.

At the same time, it is not an entirely uncommon pastime to come up with creative and articulated , especially among the lower social classes, such as dockers.

Since the advent of the World Wide Web, several websites have come and gone that featured user-submitted or machine-generated collections of complex , and manuals compiling these collections of have been printed.

Gravity

In the Italian language, profanities belonging to this category are called (singular: ), in which God, the Virgin Mary, Jesus, the Saints, or the Roman Catholic Church are insulted. This category is so strong it is usually frowned upon, even by people who would make casual or even regular use of the profanities above.

("swearing") is a misdemeanor in Italian law, but the law is seldom enforced. However, it is still considered a strong social taboo, at least on television. For example, anyone caught uttering in the Italian version of the reality television franchise '' Big Brother'' () "must be immediately expelled," because they offend "millions of believers."

Legal status

Until 1999, uttering blasphemies in public was considered a criminal misdemeanor in Italy (although enforcement was all but non-existent), although nowadays, it has been downgraded to an administrative misdemeanor. Some local administrations still ban the practice. For example, after the curate complained about the frequency of blasphemous profanity in the parish recreation centre, the of Brignano Gera d'Adda banned the practice in the civic centre, and in all places of retail business, be it public or private. As of July 2011, only obscenities that are directly related to God are classified as a under Italian law. Any insult to Mary or the various saints do not actually represent a , or any violation of existing laws and rules.

Minced oaths

These profanities are also commonly altered to minced oaths, with very slight changes in order not to appear blasphemous. For instance:
* , using instead of , where is Italian for uncle; or , where is replaced by ("ogre"), even though this second one results in a profanity as well. Other similarly minced oaths can be created by replacing with a series of existent or meaningless terms, like: (two), (Dionysius), (Diomedes), and (devil). A more recent alteration is , where is replaced by ("pear").
* , using instead of (Maremma is a seaside zone of Tuscany, and means " sow"). The idiom is widely used in Tuscany, in which the origin is attributed to the swamps of Maremma that used to cause malaria and other diseases among the Tuscan population. An expression somewhat similar is ( meaning " sodomite").
* , using ''madosca'' instead of , where ''madosca'' means nothing, and it sounds like a macaronic Russian version of .
* , used instead of . means "arrogance", means "executioner".
* (literally "swine disk"), used instead of .
* , where ''Discord'' is a euphemism of .
* ''Zio pera'', used instead of ''dio porco.'' Literally translates to "uncle pear".

Other minced oaths can be created ad libitum when people begin to utter one of the above blasphemies, but then choose to "correct" themselves in real time. The principal example is somebody beginning to say (where ''cane'' means "dog"), and choosing to say instead ("God s asinger") or ("God s aongwriter"). Other common minced oaths include: (typically used in Veneto, Lazio, and Umbria), meaning "dear God"; (with being a contraction of , that means "good") or (same meaning, typically used in Tuscany); and or "" (same meaning, used in Castelfranco Veneto) instead of (where means "executioner"). In Trentino, it is also common , where the name of God is associated with one of the most known local dishes.
In the province of Pordenone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, is often used instead of .

Another minced oath is (mum God), common in Veneto, and another one is Codroipo, the name of a town in Friuli-Venezia Giulia which is an anagram of ". A peculiar minced oath created extemporaneously, especially popular among Italian teenagers, has the form of a rhyme, and read as follows: and translates as: "God, sing to us the Gospel, God bring us peace!"

or , used to express rage and/or disappointment (similar to "Oh my God" or "Holy Christ"), is usually not considered a , though it may be assumed to violate the second commandment of not making "wrongful use of the name of the Lord Thy God." Same for

See also

* Latin obscenity

References

Bibliography and sources

* Bakhtin, Mikhail.
Rabelais and His World
' 941 Trans. Hélène Iswolsky. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.
* Tartamella, Vito. ''Parolacce. Perché le diciamo, che cosa significano, quali effetti hanno''. BUR, 2006.
* Domaneschi, Filippo (2020), Insultare gli altri, Einaudi, Torino.

External links

Parolacce: studies, news, research, curiosities on Italian profanity by Vito Tartamella

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