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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Marco: Hello and welcome to Italian Culture Class number 5.
Cinzia: Italian names number 5. Giovanni, Giovanna, Claudio, Claudia.
Marco: We have four names today?
Cinzia: Yes, because we have two masculine names and their feminine correspondents.
Marco: So, this is going to be a long lesson.
Cinzia: Yes, but as always interesting and fun.
Marco: Yes. Only because Cinzia is here, otherwise it would be so boring.
Cinzia: Of course.
Marco: We will analyze like usual their etymology, their onomastico, name day, as well as their masculine and feminine variants.
Cinzia: Today’s first two names are Giovanni…
Marco: Which is masculine,
Cinzia: And Giovanna
Marco: Which is feminine.

Lesson focus
Cinzia: Okay. So the historical origins of both the masculine and the feminine forms of these names come from the Jewish Yohannan that means “dono di Dio”.
Marco: Gift of God. And it is the second most used name in Italy for both males and females. In addition over 180 Italian towns were named after the saints that bore this name.
Cinzia: Oh, so that means that cities took the name from the saints?
Marco: Yes, yes, yes.
Cinzia: Oh, wow. Talking about saints so we should talk about onomastici also, and Giovanni’s onomastico is celebrated on different days of the year.
Marco: Why is that? I mean he is the nicest guy on the block?
Cinzia: Because since many saints bore his name.
Marco: Oh, so many saints had the name, used the name Giovanni, so many Saints Day that means many onomastico.
Cinzia: Yes, so you can find a San Giovanni Battista, San Giovanni Evangelista...
Marco: Wait, wait, wait. Let’s give a translation of these names because I’m sure they know them. So what is the first name you said?
Cinzia: Saint John the Baptist.
Marco: And the second one?
Cinzia: Saint John the Evangelist.
Marco: Very famous saints.
Cinzia: Yes. So, the first one is celebrated on the 21st of June and the second one on the 27th of December, so very far from each other.
Marco: Wait a second. How do I know which Giovanni I am?
Cinzia: I guess it’s the family that picks the name for the children.
Marco: Maybe a family picks the name Giovanni but then connects it to the particular saint for example, San Giovanni Battista instead of San Giovanni Evangelista.
Cinzia: Yes.
Marco: And what about onomastico of Giovanna?
Cinzia: Oh, yes. It is celebrated on the 30th of May.
Marco: And who is it in honor of?
Cinzia: It’s in honor of Giovanna D’arco.
Marco: Saint Joanna D’Arc.
A: Yes. La pulzella d’Orleans.
Marco: You mean “The Maid of Orleans”.
Cinzia: Yes, of course.
Marco: I don’t think we need to explain anything about her, but still there’s a short explanation on the PDF for anybody who forgot who she was.
Cinzia: Yes. So download the PDF and discover about Joanna d’Arc.
Marco: Giovanna D’Arco, you mean.
Cinzia: Yes.
Marco: Okay. Now what about the derivatives of these names in both masculine and feminine versions?
Cinzia: Oh, Marco, do we have to tell them? I mean there are too many.
Marco: Oh, choose the ones you like most.
Cinzia: You’re talking about male names?
Marco: Yes. You go with the male names, I’ll go with the female names.
Cinzia: Okay. So, for example we can have Gian Pietro.
Marco: Nice.
Cinzia: Gian Piero, Gianandrea, Gian Luca.
Marco: Gian Luca. Yes.
Cinzia: Oh also, I didn’t know that.
Marco: Hm.
Cinzia: And what about Gian Giacomo?
Marco: Gian Giacomo is actually nice. And what about some diminutives?
Cinzia: Oh, we have Gianni, Giannino, Nanni, Nannino, Vanni.
Marco: Nanni?
Cinzia: Yes. Nanni.
Marco: I mean, where is the connection? Aaa, I see.
Cinzia: Nanni, Giovanni.
Marco: So, Giovanni, “anni” and becomes Nanni.
Cinzia: Yes. But you know, we Italians can be so creative with names.
Marco: Not only with names, but yes, very, very nice. So Very, very interesting.
Cinzia: And what about the female names?
Marco: We have altered versions like Vanna, Vannetta, Zana but not that famous I think. Instead the diminutives are very famous, I think. Very used. For example Giovannina, Gianna, Giannina, Giannetta, or Genova also.
Cinzia: What Genova, like the city?
Marco: Yes. It seems that it’s a diminutive of the name Giovanna.
Cinzia: Wow. I’ve never heard that.
Marco: I’m sure there is more historical reason behind the name of the city Genova.
Cinzia: Yes, yes. But what about famous characters?
Marco: Well, we have a famous character with such a nice name. I love his name.
Cinzia: Really?
Marco: Yes. Let me say it out aloud. Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola.
Cinzia: Siii. Pico Della Mirandola. I used to love him.
Marco: And there’s one reason why I like it so much. This name, Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola, especially Pico Della Mirandola, reminds me of a comic that then became cartoon.
Cinzia: Oh, yes, I know who you’re talking about.
Marco: I’m talking about Paperino that is Donald Duck. We call Donald Duck, Paperino, in Italian and well one of the characters of his friends…
Cinzia: It’s Pico de Paperis.
Marco: Yes. Pico de Paperis. I actually don’t know the English name of this.
Cinzia: Yeah. Me neither.
Marco: Hm. But Pico de Paperis is the smart…
Cinzia: Professor…
Marco: Yes, but he is the historical professor not the inventor.
Cinzia: No, no. The inventor is Archimede.
Marco: Exactly.
Cinzia: So, well, anyway. Going back to Pico Della Mirandola, the real Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola, he is best known for one of his most important works that is “La Dignità dell’Uomo”, ‘The Dignity of Men’.
Cinzia: Oh, yes. He was such a great Italian humanist and philosopher also.
Marco: And well, time is running short, so let’s take a look at the next names.
Cinzia: Okay. Which are Claudio…
Marco: Masculine
Cinzia: And Claudia…
Marco: Feminine.
Cinzia: So, these two names come from an aristocratic Roman family name, which is Claudius, and this name Claudius is probably originally a nickname.
Marco: A nickname?
Cinzia: Yes, because it means “limping, lame”.
Marco: And in fact an old Italian word that we can sometimes hear that means “limping” is “claudicante”.
Cinzia: Oh, yes. That’s true.
Marco: But we don’t use it any more, do we? We prefer “zoppicare”, in this case “zoppicante” as adjective.
Cinzia: Zoppicante. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marco: Zoppicante as adjective.
Cinzia: It’s not very used but it does exist.
Marco: It does, it does. So, Cinzia, what about the name days?
Cinzia: Oh, the onomastici are celebrated on the 20th of March.
Marco: In honor of Santa Claudia?
Cinzia: Yes. Because Claudia was part of a group of believers who were arrested during the persecution of the Christians. Marco, and now, would you like to tell me some diminutives of Claudio and Claudia?
Marco: Certainly. The most common ones are Cla and Clo.
Cinzia: Cla and Clo?
Marco: Yes. Ciao Cla. Ciao Clo. That’s easy.
Cinzia: Seems French.
Marco: Really?
Cinzia: Yeah.
Marco: No, then we also have Claudino, Claudina or altered versions like Claudiana, Clodio but…
Cinzia: Okay, okay, not really often used.
Marco: No, no, no.
Cinzia: But who is the famous character who bore this name?
Marco: Very famous character is Claudio Enrico Paolo Baglioni.
Cinzia: Wait, wait, wait. Is it our Claudio Baglioni?
Marco: Yes.
Cinzia: Who sings Piccolo Grande Amore?
Marco: Yes.
Cinzia: Oh, it’s him then.
Marco: Sing it for us, sing it for us.
Cinzia: Lei era un piccolo grande amore...
Marco: Yeah, that’s nice, some applause, some applause.
Cinzia: Grazie, grazie, but I’m not Claudio Baglioni unfortunately.
Marco: So, I’m sure we will have to put this song, a link to the song.
Cinzia: Yes. This is one of the most famous Italian songs. When was it written? Around…?
Marco: I don’t know actually, I don’t know, but I know I was…
Cinzia: Seventies? Sixties?
Marco: I just know that when I came to Italy it was still a huge hit, it’s still a huge hit especially in summer time.
Cinzia: Yes, it was. And I remember when I was in Junior High it used to be so romantic.
Marco: Yes, yes, it is a very, very nice song. And he has had such a long career, more than forty years.

Outro
Cinzia: Yes, but let’s stop to forty years and let’s close this lesson.
Marco: So, thank you for today and see you next time.
Cinzia: Si, ciao ciao, a presto.
Marco: Ciao.

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