A Legacy of Achievement: The Italian Americans

Italians have greatly contributed to science, arts, technology, cuisine, sports and banking worldwide. Italian people are also known for their attention to clothing and family values.

In addition to the 60 million Italians living in Italy, it is estimated that nearly 80 million people of full or part Italian ancestry live outside of Italy, mostly in South America, North America, Australia and Europe.  Here are countries that have Italian blood:

1.Brazil 25 million, 2.Argentina 20 million, 3. USA 18 million, 4. France 4 million,

5.Canada  1.5 million, 6.Uruguay 1.3 million, 7. Australia 850 000, 8.Venezuela 700 000

9. Germany 700 000,   10. Switzerland  600 000,  11. Peru   500 000,

12. United Kingdom 400 000, 13.Belgium 290 000, 14. Chile 150 000, 15. Paraguay 100 000,

16. South Africa 45 000, 17. Holland 30 000,  17. Mexico 20 000, 18. Costa Rica 20 000.

 A major wave of Italian immigrants came to America during the 1880’s through the 1920’s, after Italy’s unification in1861, when over 4 million Italians entered the United States. However the impact was far greater in countries like Brazil and Argentina.  The first Italian immigrants to America were from northern Italy, Veneto, Friuli, Lombardia and Piemonte. They were followed    by people from southern Italy: Sicily, Calabria, Campania and Abruzzi.

 Italian immigrants were originally discriminated against. In fact, there was a time when speaking Italian was a crime. It is ironic when we consider that America was named after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer and geographer.

Italians and their descendants in America helped shape the country and contributed to the advancement in the quality of life in the United States.  They gained prominence in politics, sports, media, fine arts, culinary arts and in many other fields of endeavor.  No wonder that every year the US President signs an executive order designating the month of October as the National Italian American Heritage Month.  This proclamation is recognition of the many achievements and contributions of Italian Americans.

  

Here is a short list of prominent Italian American personalities among many other great Italian legends: Rodolfo Valentino, Fiorello La Guardia, Gerardine Ferraro, Nancy Pelosi, Mario and Andrew Cuomo, Chris Christie, Rudy Giuliani, Antonio Meucci, Ghirardelli, Enrico Fermi, Enrico Caruso, Antonin Scalia, John Sirica, Madonna, Susan Lucci, Susan Sarandon, Anne Bancroft, Robert De Niro, Francis Ford Coppola, Sylvester Stallone, Leonardo Di Caprio, Danny De vito, Al Pacino, Alan Alda, Sonny Bono, Danny Aiello, Ben Gazzara, Ernest Borgnine, Mario Lanza, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perri Como, Julius La Rosa, Louis Prima, Connie Francis, Annette Funicello, Henri Mancini, Guy Lombard, Liberace, Tony Danza, Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, Yogi Berra, Tommy Lasorda, Joe Di Magio, Tony La Russe, Primo Carnera, Rocky Marciano.

I would like to add two names that are not well known but noteworthy nonetheless: Adelina Patti, a soprano who, while singing at the White House, touched the heart of President Abraham Lincoln, and Amadeo Giannini who founded The Bank of Italy in 1904 in San Francisco.

It served working class citizens of the area, especially Italian Americans living in San Francisco’s North Bay area. In 1928, The Bank of Italy merged with the smaller Bank of America.  In 1930 Giannini changed the name Bank of Italy to Bank of America.

Today the Italians are the 5^th largest ethnic group in the US after the Germans, Irish, English and Africans. Thanks to various organizations, such as the Italian American Heritage Commission in New Jersey, the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) in Washington D.C. and

Casa  Italiana  Zerilli-Marini New York University, Italian culture is florishing in the USA.

Origins of Mafia

The MAFIA society is over 600 years old.  It started in 1282 in Palermo when Sicily was under French rule. On Easter Monday, during the evening prayer (vespers), a Frenchman harassed a Sicilian girl. I should mention that there are different accounts of the harassment, as to who the woman was, and who the Frenchman was. In fact, THE NEW YORK TIMES reported on May 3, 1891, that a beautiful young girl and her fiancé (betrothed) had approached the Church of the Holy Spirit in order to be united in marriage. As the custom dictated the groom went to look for the father of the bride in a room at the back of the church. While the bride was waiting in front, a drunken French sergeant threw his arm around her waist and with the other hand grabbed her breast.  The poor girl, overtaken by fear, started to scream and tried to run away.. Unfortunately, her shoe got caught in the crack of a stone pavement and she fell, hitting her head against the corner of the church building. At that very instant her betrothed arrived and, seeing his future wife down and bleeding, took his stiletto and drove it into the assailant’s chest crying “Morte Alla Francia Italia Anela.”(Death to France is Italy’s Cry). As you can see the word MAFIA is an acronym formed from the first letters of the above Italian phrase. This incident infuriated all Sicilians who started to form secret societies who took up arms against the French who had ruled the Kingdom of Sicily with a very repressive regime since 1266. In fact this insurrection led to the so called War of the Sicilian Vespers which ended with their expulsion in 1302 with the Treaty of Caltabellotta.

The Mafia in America is believed to have been started by Don Vito Cascio Ferro, who fled to New York following the murder of a banker in Sicily. In the 1920’s, when Mussolini tried to eradicate the Mafia, many members of the secret society fled to America.  It doesn’t surprise me to read that during W.W.II, the Mafia collaborated with the Allies once they landed in Sicily.

In fact, they freed all anti-Mussolini prisoners including many society members. Once some were placed in positions of power, they started to make deals with politicians. If you look at the present political situation in Italy and at the number of politicians accused of corruption, you understand when it all started..

Bits and pieces of an article that might whet your curiosity

The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% of the world's oxygen supply.
The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean. The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States.

United States

The Eisenhower Interstate System is a network of  freeways that is part of  the National Highway System of the United States, and it  requires that one mile in every five must be straight and flat. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies. It was President Dwight Eisenhower who in 1956 authorized the construction of this highway system by the Federal Aid Highway Act.

How did this idea come about ? At the end of WWII General Dwight Eisenhower, after surveying the war damage in Germany, was impressed by the durability of the Autobahn (a Federal Expressway System). Since in the 1950’s America feared a nuclear attack from the Russians, Eisenhower decide to provide evacuation routes from the cities.

The longest interstate is the I-90, which runs from Seattle, Washington, to Boston.

More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.

There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, everyone is manmade.

New York City

The term "The Big Apple" was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930s
who used the slang expression 'apple' for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City is to play the big time - The Big Apple.

There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy;(N.Y.is home to 3.4 million Italians, which is among the largest concentration in the world after Sao Paolo, Buenos Aires, Milan and Rome.) and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country. Ninety percent of the world's ice covers Antarctica. This ice also represents seventy percent of all the fresh water in the world. As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert; the average yearly total precipitation is about two inches.
Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it is ice.), Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.

Canada, the second largest country in the world, has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.  The name Canada was first used by Jacques Cartier in 1535.  It derives from an Iroquoian word  Kanata  meaning "Big Village".

Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.

Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.

Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world located on two continents.

Rome

The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome, Italy, in 133 B.C.
There is a city called Rome on every continent.

The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a Roman Catholic religious order.  It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis courts and, as of 2001, has a population of 80 -- 20 less people than the Vatican.
It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is.

.Waterfalls

The water of Angel Falls (the world's highest) in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters)- 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.

I have always said that we learn something new every day. Unfortunately, many of us are at that age where what we learn today, we forget tomorrow.
But, give it a shot anyway.

Truth will out Part II

6)      Did the Nazis invent the Swastika and the Concentration Camps?

            This is a false assumption as this symbol was used by various ancient cultures in China, India, Japan and others.  Originally it had a positive meaning until the Nazi regime adopted it as its emblem.  As for the concentration camps, they were invented by the English during the Boer War in South Africa (1899-1902) where over 40 thousand perished.  In 1915-16 Turkish nationalists organized a genocide campaign against the Armenian people and killed over 800 thousand of them. Hitler must have been inspired by this genocide which led him to the creation of large-scale gas chambers which were used to incinerate six millions Jews.

7) Was the Catholic Church wrong in blaming the Jewish people as a whole for condemning Jesus to death?

It is ironic to think that Mary, Jesus and all the apostles were Hebrews. Many commentators had, over the years, urged the Church to establish the historical truth.  Finally in 1986, Pope John Paul II, during his historical visit to the Synagogue of Rome, clearly stated that no fault could be attributed to the Jews living at that time and to those of today. Pope Benedict XVI, in his book “Jesus of Nazareth” reasserts now the same idea expressed by Pope Vojtyla, thus freeing the Jewish people from the accusation of killing Jesus.  Is this an  atonement or a “mea culpa”?

                     8) Did Marconi invent the radio that he patented in England in            1895?

       He was the first to carry out a wireless intercontinental transmission in 1903 from a station located in Massachusetts carrying an exchange between Theodore Roosevelt and King Edward VII.  However in 1943 the American Supreme Court overturned Marconi’s patent by crediting Nikola Tesla with being the first person to patent radio technology.  Tesla was born in Croatia in 1856 and studied electrical engineering in Austria.  He emigrated to the USA in 1889 and died (a pauper) in New York City in 1943.

      You might like to know that the tesla is used as the unit of the strength of a magnetic field.

9) Did  Eve  really offer Adam an apple?

The Bible doesn’t specify what kind of fruit it was. Many commentators think that it was a fruit from a fig tree because, as soon as Adam and Eve noticed that they were naked, they sewed together fig leaves and made girdles  to cover themselves. Only in Medieval times was the tree linked to the apple, maybe because of the similarity of the Latin sound “malum” which refers to evil as well as to apple. The acceptance of the apple became quite popular in such linguistic expressions as “Adam’s apple”, a protrusion in front of the neck that, according to a legend, came about when a piece of this fruit got stuck in his throat causing a lump. The apple is used as a symbol of N.Y. City (Big Apple).  Apple is the logo and name of a computer company that nowadays produces iPhones, iPads and iPods, in addition to laptop computers.  Snow White died of a poisoned apple. William Tell placed an apple on his son’s head that he pierced with an arrow.

 9) Were there animals at the original nativity scene of Jesus?

 Pope Benedict XVI, in his new book “Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives” says that the Christians have it all wrong as there were no angels, no donkeys, no oxen and definitely no carols beside the crib.  In fact he writes that “In the gospels there is no mention of animals”. Therefore, according to Benedict XVI, they should not appear in the crib.

10) Was Santa Claus always dressed in red and white?

The image of Santa Claus dressed in red and white was created in the 1930’s by Coca-Cola, as the Company was looking for ways to increase sales.

In Charles Dickens’ “Christmas Carol”, Santa is described as having a green robe and a red beard.  In many English speaking countries outside the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, he is known as Father Christmas, in Italy as Babbo Natale, in France as Père Noël, in Spanish speaking countries Papá Noël, San Nicolás or even Santa Claus.

11)   Who really discovered America? The Vikings,  Christopher Columbus, or  Amerigo Vespucci?

This is a controversial question.  There is evidence that the Vikings were the first to land on the northeastern shores of North America and to make contact with the Indians. Leif Ericson landed in Newfoundland, Canada, around 1000 A.D. He set up a colony there called Vinland, but he abandoned it after a year or two. As for Columbus we all learned at school that “in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue” and ever since he was given credit for discovering America.  Vespucci’s great contribution was to tell Europe that the land that Columbus had found was not the Orient (Asia) but a New World which was later called America in honour of Amerigo Vespucci.                                 

                   

Truth will out

       Part I

As this proverb states the truth cannot be concealed indefinitely as it will eventually come to light. Here are some historical lies that we have been led to believe.  This is due to the fact that in the old times historians never verified the facts, mainly because the rich and powerful had absolute control of everything, while modern historians use a more scientific method to get to the truth.

1)   Were the Pyramids really built by slaves?

Contrary to popular belief modern historians have now discovered that the pyramid builders were local people, Egyptians who received a regular salary for their work, and not slaves or foreigners. After the construction of the pyramids these workers were involved in the construction of monumental tombs. How did this belief come about? Some say that it is the fault of Greek historians who couldn’t imagine that such edifices could be built without using masses of slaves.

2)   Did Galileo say “And yet it does move (Eppur si muove)”in reference to the earth moving around the sun?

Experts say that it is unlikely that he muttered it as it would have been extremely dangerous to say so in front of the Inquisition, knowing that a few years before Giordano Bruno, a Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer, was burned at the stake for espousing the heliocentric theory of Copernicus. Galileo was advised by the church to talk about his ideas as a theory and  not as a fact. However, in his 1632 new book Dialogue  on the  Great World Systems he sided with Copernicanism , by ridiculing the Aristotelians for embracing the Ptolemaic theory which was accepted by the Church.

Because of this he was called to Rome in 1633 to face the Inquisition , and after 18 days of interrogation he was imprisoned   until  he died in 1642.

In 1989 the first spacecraft launched by NASA, to probe Jupiter, was named Galileo, in honour of the astronomer Galileo Galilei. Finally, once that the notion of the earth revolving around the stationary sun could not be disputed any more, Pope John Paul II, in 1992, acknowledged publicly that the Vatican had made an error in convicting Galileo.

3)   “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Is President Kennedy the originator of this quote? Kennedy used  it at his inaugural address in1961. Although he did not take credit for the quote, people attribute it to him. The original quote comes from Marcus Tullius Cicero, a successful lawyer and statesman and one of Rome’s  greatest orator.

4)      Was Alexander Graham Bell the inventor of the telephone?

The real inventor was the Italian Antonio Meucci. He was living in Cuba when he discovered that sounds  can travel through copper wire. In 1850 he moved to the USA to continue his research  and in 1860 he conducted a public demonstration of his invention.  Meucci couldn’t afford the $ 250 fee to take out a patent  so he sent a model with the technical specifications to the Western Union telegraph company, but was unable to meet the senior executive of the company.  Two years later, Alexander Graham Bell, who was working in the laboratory with Meucci, paid for a patent for the telephone and made a deal with Western Union that made him a lot of money. Antonio Meucci sued Bell. In 1889, when it looked  like Meucci may win the case, he died and the court case stopped. Ever since , Bell has been known as the inventor of the telephone. However, in 2002, 113 years after Meucci’s death, the American Congress recognized officially that it was Meucci and not Bell who invented the telephone.

5)      Was President G.W. Bush justified in attacking Iraq in 2003?

Certainly not, as it is common knowledge now that Saddam did  not participate in the attack of 9/11 nor did he possess WMD (weapons of mass destruction) as the President  had claimed.

Bush was determined to eliminate Saddam at any cost by avoiding diplomacy and by forging Intelligence documents, he led the USA into a war under false pretenses.

Trip to Italy

I'd like to share with you some of the amazing things that I discovered during my trip to Italy.                             

Of the many historical sites visited four really stood out : The Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi), St. John Lateran Basilica,(Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano), The Basilica of Our Lady in Trastevere (Santa Maria in Trastevere), and The Nuraghe in Sardinia.

 Trevi Fountain

It was built in 1735, stands 26 m high and is 20 m wide.  It's  the most  famous fountain in Rome.

It is difficult to get a shot of the fountain without a stranger in the picture, on account of the crowds of people coming from all over the world, taking pictures of the fountain at every hour of the day and night. According to the traditional  legend the throwing of one coin into the fountain will guarantee a return trip to the Eternal City. A newer story says that throwing   two coins will lead to a new romance, while three coins will ensure either a marriage or a divorce. Don't forget to toss a coin with your right hand and cross it over the left shoulder, with your back to the fountain, then  make your wish and throw it into the fountain.
Apparently tourists throw in approximately  120 000 Euros a year. The money is mostly donated to a charity that gives food to poor people.  Since there have been attempts to steal the money from the fountain the police now guard it 24 hours a day.

The fountain is built at the junction of 3 roads hence the name Trevi (Trivium or tre vie). It was here that Fellini filmed some scenes for the film La Dolce Vita starring Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg. The fountain was turned off and draped in black when M. Mastroianni died in 1996.  The fountain was also used for some scene in the 1953 film Roman Holiday starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Part of the film is replicated at the Italian Pavillion at Epcot in Walt Disney World, Florida, USA.The Trevi Fountain is at the end of the Aqua Virgo (Acqua Vergine) an acqueduct constructed in 19 B.C. It brings water to Rome  from the Salone Springs 22 Km away. Three Coins in The Fountain is a 1954 American romantic comedy film, a story of 3 American women working in Rome and dreaming of finding romance in the Eternal City. In 1955 this film was given two Academy Awards for Best Song and Best Cinematography.

St. John  Lateran  Basilica

This is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Rome. It was built in 318 A.D. by Constantine I. This church war rebuilt at least 3 times on account of 2 destructive fires and an earthquake. It's one of the most important of the 4 main Basilicas and it ranks 4th of 524 attractions in Rome.
San Giovanni in Laterano is the largest church in Rome, since St Peter's is in the state of Vatican. It is  30 m by 54 m.  The interior of the church is richly decorated with 7 silver altars and more than hundred chandeliers. What a sight to see here! On both sides of  the center aisle are larger than life marble statues of the 12 apostles. Just outside the church there is an octagonal baptistry  which was for many generations the only one in Rome.  This basilica is a must see for anyone going to Rome.  Remember that here you don't have to queue up.

 Basilica of Our Lady in Trastevere

 La Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere is one of the oldest churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Rome. It is the 5th most important church in Rome. Construction started in 221 A.D. and completed in 352. I was  fascinated by the paintings that adorn the entire ceiling and walls. Mass is usually said in the chapels found on both sides of the church.

The mosaic designs that adorn the floor are absolutely impressive.  Interior decorations are  stunning.  The church is in a quiet neighborhood called Trastevere, name that derives from the Latin 'Trans Tiber" i.e. across (beyond )the Tiber, a river that crosses Rome. Here you can go for a walk along the river and admire the architecture of the buildings on both sides of the river. Today Trastevere is also known for its night life and for its narrow streets full of pubs, restaurants and clubs
I strongly recommend visiting this church.

 Nauraghe Civilization (Sardinia)

 

 This was my first visit to Sardinia (it.Sardegna) which impressed me not only for the beauty of its beaches and the colours of the water, but most of all for the discovery of the Nuragic Civilization.  I say discovery because I was aware of the influence of the Greek and Roman civilizations but I had never read or heard of Nuragic Culture which reached Sardinia almost 2000 years before the Roman. The nuraghe edifice that you see is an ancient conical stone edifice that  dates back to  18-15 BC.  Today it has come to be the symbol of Sardinia and its distinctive culture, the Nuragic. This word is related to the Sardinian nurra  (heap of stones).  In fact the round wall is being held by the weight of its stones  which may each amount to several tons.  Nuraghes can reach up to 20 m in height. An interior stone spiral stair, through the thick walls, leads to the upper floors and to the terrace above. As reported by some prehistoric scholars, the architecture produced by the Nuragic civilization was more advanced than any civilization in the western Mediterranean during this period (epoch).  The most imposing and best preserved Nuraghe is the Nuraghe Sant'Antine near the village of Torralba   in the province of Sassari.  Experts don't seem to agree on the use of the nuraghes, whether they were ordinary dwellings, military strongholds,  religious temples or a combination of them all.                                                               

Origins of Fear

Times of crisis, such as  the present economic and financial crises, cause greater uncertainty and set a very fertile ground for these irrational beliefs of fears and superstitions.   No wonder  there is an increasing number of people who believe in superstitions. Most superstitions have to do with luck.  We all have the need to know what luck will bring us.  What did we do wrong to bring  doom crashing on our heads?  All the world is superstitious in one way or another.  Some don't admit it.  Omens and signs indicate what the future might hold.  "Red sky at night, sailors delight" indicates a fine day weather wise.  "Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning" indicates bad stormy weather.  You may "cross your fingers " for luck,  "avoid stepping under ladders" to avoid bad luck.  These actions of  superstitious persons are intended to protect them from dangers. 

A bird flying into your house or a picture falling from the wall might mean the death of a family member. Instead,  if your palm itches you will soon be receiving money.  You  like this one, don't you?

 How did the belief of a black cat crossing the street bringing bad luck originate?  There are various explanations .  Some say that black cats are associated with the darkness.  Others say that it is due to our ancestors' fear of the night.  Among all the different stories , the most plausible one is the fact that in the past it was very difficult to see a black cat at night as there were no street lights.  Very often horses would get scared on account of the sudden appearance of a black cat, thus causing the carriage , together with the horseman, to overturn (tip over).

Notice the horseshoe in my title is turned up, that's so your luck doesn't run out while visiting my pages.       

Most superstitions have historical origins thus it's possible to give a rational explanation of their popularity (diffusion).  In the 5th century B.C. Thucydides, the greatest Greek historian, wrote that fear was the cause of all aggressions.  Sparta attacked Athens which was about to become one of the most powerful state, thus causing the 30 year Peloponnesian War.

Aristotle said that "Fear is the cause of evil.  We all fear evil like shame, poverty, sickness, death, lack of friends."

Today we too fear diseases like cancer, aids, which are the modern equivalent of the Medieval fears of leprosy, syphilis, plague.

 Some think that fear has given birth to many religions. In fact when Adam found  himself naked, after eating from the tree of knowledge, he was overtaken by fear before shame.  It's fair to say that every epoch has its fears:  Fear of the collapse of the economy in 1929, fear of the spread of communism in the ‘50’s. This was the period of horror films: “Psycho” of A. Hitchcock in 1960, “The Exorcist” in 1973, “Jaws” in 1975.  The XXI century brought us H1N1 or swine flu ,the H5N1 known as the bird flu together with the West Nile virus and the Lyme disease are now coming back and scaring many people.                                                                                                                                       

 For Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher, it was the mistrust among men "Homo homini lupus"(man is a wolf toward the other man) that made necessary the creation of social hierarchies such as the state which had to be founded on the fear of death and punishment.

For Machiavelli, the prince  had to be feared more than loved.  Fear protected primitive people from wild animals, weather storms, diseases. 

I couldn't agree more with Bertrand Russell who wrote: "Fear is the first source of superstitions and cruelty."  

Over centuries the effects of these fears have been amplified and used by governments in order to keep social order as well as to promote an attack as a defensive act.  This same strategy was used by the US president, George W. Bush, in order to create a consensus to attack Iraq under the guise of a preventive war after 9/11.

In short, fear has always influenced human decisions.  However, to paraphrase President Roosevelt,"what we have most to fear is fear itself."

PS. I'll be away for the month of September.

Beliefs, Fears and Superstitions

Superstitions are irrational beliefs and a lot of them have Latin origins.  Tuesday, among the Romans , was considered a very unlucky day.  It was a Roman tradition to distinguish between "dies fasti" ( lucky days ) and "dies nefasti"(unlucky days).  The number 13 is considered an unlucky number in some countries as it reminds them of the Last Supper with 13 people around the table. Some claim that Judas Iscariot sat at the 13th place . In the Anglo-Saxon world Friday the 13th is the unluckiest day of the month. As a result many buildings don't have a 13th floor .  Apollo 13 was the only unsuccessful mission to the moon and the explosion occurred on April 13, 1970.  The tragedy of the Costa Concordia happened the night between the 13th and 14th of January 2012.  Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden on a Friday, Noah's flood  started on a Friday.  For Spain and Latin American countries Tuesday the 13th  is a day of mala suerte (bad luck). I should mention that Friday the 13th , has long been considered lucky in Judaism .  In the Italian culture the number 17, and not 13, is considered unlucky.  The number 17 is viewed as the  Roman numeral  XVII and then changed anagrammatically to VIXI , perfect tense of the Latin verb "vivere" (to live), which translates to "I have lived" implying "my life is over".  Furthermore, if Friday 17 comes in November, that is the unluckiest day of all, because November 2 is all souls day. When that happens, November is called  "the month of the deceased".  The Italians go to a great extent to avoid the number 17, in fact the Italian airline, Alitalia, does not have a seat 17. Renaud, the auto French Co., sold its "R17" model in Italy as "R177".  Gabriele D'Annunzio, famous Italian writer, would never date a letter day 13, he would instead use "12+1". In Italy and most European countries there is widespread conviction that seeing a black cat crossing a street brings bad luck.  In UK  black cats are a sign of good luck.  In North America, it's considered bad luck if a black cat crosses your path and good luck if the  cat is white. If you live in Germany you probably believe that if a black cat crosses your path from left to right is bad omen, but from right to left will bring favourable times. It's bad to walk under a ladder, but we knock on wood, cross our fingers and bless a person for sneezing, to ward off bad luck.  Italians touch iron, and not wood,  for protection, or they show the horned hand (corna) which consists in using the thumb to hold  down the middle and ring fingers, then extend the index finger and the pinkie. 

Great men and their Fears 

Caesar feared insects and spiders.  Caesar Augustus had an obsessive fear of darkness, in fact he always wanted a servant next to him every night, so he could light a candle in case he would wake up.  He also suffered from anxiety attack during storms.

 Alexander the Great was afraid of being alone in the house.  Napoleon feared cats.

Stalin feared of being killed in a "coup d'état".  Hitler was  claustrophobic. 

Churchill was afraid of dirt that's why he would spend lot time in the bathtub. 

Lincoln feared beautiful women.  Mussolini was afraid of bacteria and microbes, and  to avoid a handshake, which he considered  anti-hygienic, they say he instituted the Roman Salute (Saluto Romano), gesture in which the right arm is held out forward straight with palm down.  In 1942 President Roosevelt  instituted the hand over the heart  as the salute.  As for fear , in his first inaugural speech he said : "All we have to fear is fear itself."

 Pablo Picasso, whose paintings were a masterpiece, was terrified by the fear of becoming poor.  Alfred Hitchcock would get into a cold sweat at the very sight of an egg.  Michael Jackson was terrorized by the fear of germs.  Natalie Wood, who feared water, died by drowning.  Marilyn Monroe had a fear of public or open places.  Madonna is scared of something that she can neither see nor feel and that is thunder.

PS.  Since  I’ll be taking a summer hiatus, I like to wish you all a safe and happy summer.

Latin and the Romance languages

Latin and the Romance Languages

Those of you who have either read my Multilingual Anthology of  proverbs, sayings, clichés and idiomatic expressions, or read my articles on this blog, know that my research is geared toward the three most widely spoken Romance languages: Spanish, French and Italian respectively.

Spanish with 330 million native speakers and 417 million second language speakers, French with 70 million native speakers and 110 million second language speakers, Italian with 62 million native speakers and 60 million as a second language speakers. All the Romance languages developed from Latin in the 6^th to 9^th century. Latin was born in the 5^th century B.C. and was the tongue of farmers who lived at the mouth of the Tiber.

I should mention that the Romance languages, in order of speakers, is made up of Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, Catalan and many others, and there are 800 million native speakers worldwide.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5^th century Vulgar Latin evolved into individual Romance tongues. No wonder all these Romance languages have many similar features, both in grammar and vocabulary. The difference between them is mainly phonetical.

The first text in French appeared in the 9^th century, in Spanish and Italian in the 10^th century. In Italy many prominent writers and poets used vernacular of their own accord. One of the most famous is Dante Alighieri (1265-1321).

Latin and its Influence on the English Language.

We might not study Latin but we continue  to spice our English language,  like salt and pepper, with Latin words or phrases.  When Caesar landed in Britain there was no English.  Modern English has imported words from over 350 languages around the world.  No wonder David Crystal, famous linguist, defines English a vacuum-cleaner of a language.  A significant part of the English vocabulary, about 65%, comes from Latin.  Sometimes the Latin word is identical to English, at other times it has been adapted.

Here is a brief list of Latin  words that are now part of our everyday English vocabulary:

addenda, ad infinitum,  affidavit, agenda, alma mater, alter ego, auditorium, aurora borealis (australis), bonus, campus, fetus, habeas corpus, in absentia, in vitro, memorandum, millennium, nucleus, pandemonium, penis, per capita, persona non grata, podium, post partum, premium, quorum, referendum, senior, solarium, stadium, status quo, terminus, vertebra, viceversa, villa, virus, etc. etc.

Think of the abbreviations for Latin phrases that we often use: A.D. (anno domini), A.M. (ante meridiem), P.M. (post meridiem, C.V.(curriculum vitae), P.S. (post scriptum), i.e. (id est), e.g.(exempli gratia). What about B.A., M.A. Cum Laude, Magna cum laude and Summa cum laude ?

As you can see Latin has had a great influence on our medical, academic, legal and scientific terminology.

Let’s not forget that Latin quotes and phrases as “Amor caecus est”(Love is blind) that we use regularly today were coined by Roman writers such as

Virgil : “Amor vincit omnia”(Love conquers all),

            “Audentis fortuna iuvat”(Fortune favours the brave),

Cicero : “Dum vita est, spes est”(While there is life there is hope),

                “Non ut edam vivo sed ut vivam edo”(Eat to live not live to eat).

Juvenal : “Mens sana in corpore sano” (A sound mind in a sound body).

Horace :  “Carpe diem”(Seize the day).

Julius Caesar : “Veni, vidi, vici”(I came, I saw , I conquered).

                          “Alia iacta est”(The die is cast).

Ovid :  “Credula res amor est” (In love you believe anything).

Ovid , author of many books, wrote “Ars amandi”(The Art of Love)

            where he cites how to pick up women at the gladiators shows.

There is no doubt that contributions of the classical Latin to the world have been many. Here is a list of  Latin mottos of various states and universities  in USA and Canada.

USA : A pluribus unum.

Arizona: Ditat Deu

Colorado: Nil sine Lumine

District of Columbia: Iustitia omnibus.

Kansas: Ad astra per aspera.

Missouri: Salus popoli suprema lex esto.

New York: Excelsior.

Oklahoma: Labor omnia vincit.

South Carolina: Dum spiro, spero

Columbia University: In lumine tuo videbimus lumen.

Harvard University: Veritas.

Notre Dame University: Crux spes unica.

Princeton University: Dei sub numine viget.

Yale University: Lux et veritas.

Latin Mottos for Canada, some Provinces and Universities:

Canada: A mari usque ad mare.

Alberta: Fortis et liber.

Manitoba:Gloriosus et liber.

Ontario: Ut incepit fidelis sic permanet.

Concordia University : Concordia salus.

McGill University : Grandescunt aucta labore.

Université de Montréal : Fide splendet et scientia.

University of Toronto : Velut arbor aevo.