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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Marco: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti a Italian Culture Class 6. Italian Names lesson number 6. Antonio, Antonia, Federico, Federica.
Cinzia: Marco, you said everything.
Marco: You can say “Hello”.
Cinzia: Okay. Salve a tutti. Vi ricordate di me? Sono Cinzia.
Marco: How do you say that in English?
Cinzia: Do you remember me? I’m Cinzia.
Marco: Everybody remembers you, don’t worry.
Cinzia: Of course they do.
Marco: What are we talking about in today’s lesson?

Lesson focus
Cinzia: In today’s class we shall continue the introduction to the most widely used Italian names.
Marco: And like always look at their origins, their name days and also talk about important people that use these names.
Cinzia: So what are today’s first names?
Marco: They are Antonio…
Cinzia: Masculine,
Marco: And Antonia…
Cinzia: Feminine.
Marco: Antonia is actually very rare nowadays I think.
Cinzia: Yes, but it’s a nice name.
Marco: It is?
Cinzia: Yes. Antonia. It sounds so…
Marco: Greek?
Cinzia: Greek? I wouldn’t say Greek, I would say noble. Noble.
Marco: I didn’t hear you. What, what?
Cinzia: Noble.
Marco: Noble? Okay. What are the origins of the name Antonio and Antonia?
Cinzia: So the historical origins of both the masculine and feminine nouns come from the aristocratic Roman family name Antonius.
Marco: And there are two different theories about this name right?
Cinzia: Oh, yes. About the name Antonius.
Marco: Yes.
Cinzia: Which are?
Marco: Well, the first states that it originates from the Etruscan language, but its original meaning is a unknown.
Cinzia: Oh, gli Etruschi.
Marco: Yes, Etruschi. The Etruscans. While the second theory states that Antonius originated from the ancient Greek name Antonios that means “born before due time, he who fights, or invaluable”.
Cinzia: Oh, what an interesting meaning. Do you know when the onomastico is?
Marco: The onomastico? No, I don’t know. Tell me.
Cinzia: The onomastico f Antonio is celebrated on the 17th of January in honor of San Antonio Batte.
Marco: Saint Anthony the Abbot.
Cinzia: And the onomastico of Antonia is celebrated on February the 29th.
Marco: In honor of Beata Antonia da Firenze Badessa. Blessed Abbess Anthony from Firenze.
Cinzia: Oh.
Marco: And she lived in the 15th century after Christ.
Cinzia: Okay. So, Marco, would you like to tell me the derivatives of Antonio and Antonia?
Marco: Well, first of all, Antonio, the masculine name has for example altered versions like Antonello, Antonietto, Antonino and compound versions like Antonio Maria, Gian Antonio and finally diminutives like Totò, Nino.
Cinzia: Ah, Totò.
Marco: Yes. Ninuccio and also Tony with a “y”.
Cinzia: Tony?
Marco: Tony, yes, with a “y”.
Cinzia: Tony.
Marco: Yeah, sorry. Tony. I said the English. Sorry. Tony. Sorry. When I say a “y” I change to English.
Cinzia: Okay. And what about Antonia’s derivatives?
Marco: Well, you can tell us.
Cinzia: Okay, we have as altered the names Antonella, Antonietta.
Marco: Antonietta? Oh, that’s very famous.
Cinzia: Yes, and also Antonina. And what about compound names? We only have Gian Antonia but it’s rare, you never hear that. And diminutives like Nina, Ninetta, Ninuccia, Tonia, Tonina.
Marco: Okay. That’s enough, I think.
Cinzia: Yes. But would you like to tell us about the famous character we can talk about today?
Marco: Well, certainly. Today’s character is Very, very important in the Italian cinema. His short name was Antonio de Curtis but actually his real long name was Antonio Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno De Curtis di Bisanzio Gagliardi.
Cinzia: Oh, wow.
Marco: And he was born in Naples on February 15th 1898.
Cinzia: Yes, and my dear listeners, we’re talking about Totò.
Marco: Yes, his actual maybe real-real name, because we know him by the name of Totò.
Cinzia: Yes. Some people know him by the name Antonio de Curtis…
Marco: But not that many.
Cinzia: But everyone knows Totò. Come on. He’s one of the most appreciated artists of the 19th century in Italy.
Marco: Yes. He started to get popularity when he was interpreting the Italian commedia, the Italian comedy.
Cinzia: He gained the nickname of Principe della Risata.
Marco: That means “prince of laughter”.
Cinzia: And he’s been also compared to some artists like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
Marco: Really, if you have time and you want to laugh your heart out or your lungs out also, take a look at those movies.
Cinzia: Yes.
Marco: You can find many English versions with also Italian audio of his works also outside of Italy.
Cinzia: Now, we have to take a look at the next name which is Federico
Marco: Masculine,
Cinzia: And the other one is Federica
Marco: Feminine.
Cinzia: The origin of the name Federica comes from the medieval German name Friedrich.
Marco: Wait, wait. German name, you mean this time there’s no Latin or Greek?
Cinzia: No, exactly. This time we don’t have Latin either Greek.
Marco: Okay.
Cinzia: We have German.
Marco: And the name it comes from is Friedrich, right?
Cinzia: Yes. Which was a German compound name actually made of Fridu...
Marco: That means “peace and safety”
Cinzia: And Rihhi...
Marco: That means “powerful, rich”. Now, we don’t have a very good German pronunciation so if we have any German students out there, please let us know what’s the correct pronunciation.
Cinzia: Oh, yes. Please, do. Please help us in the pronunciation. Curiously, the name of Federico became very popular in Italy because it sounds actually as Fede and Rico which are very similar to the words “fede”
Marco: That means “faith”,
Cinzia: And “ricco”
Marco: That means “rich”. So altogether “rich” and “faith”, Federico.
Cinzia: Yes. So, a very nice meaning. And the onomastico is celebrated on the 18th of July in honor of San Federico di Utrecht.
Marco: Saint Friederich of Utrecht.
Cinzia: Yes, he was a German priest of the 9th century after Christ.
Marco: And what about the onomastico of Federica?
Cinzia: Oh well, since there is no saint named Federica its onomastico falls on the same day of Federico.
Marco: What about derivatives of this name?
Cinzia: Oh well, we have some altered names like Fredrigo.
Marco: Fredrigo? That sounds some Spanish.
Cinzia: Spanish? To me it sounds more German.
Marco: Well true, true, true. I think you got it right this time. Yes. Yes. What else do we have?
Cinzia: We have Federigo with “g” instead of “c”.
Marco: Okay.
Cinzia: And then we have the feminine Fredriga and Federiga.
Marco: What about diminutives, the cute names?
Cinzia: Oh, the cute name is Fede, for both males and females, and Fedi.
Marco: And Fedi maybe is more for males, right?
Cinzia: Yes. But I have a friend called Federica and sometimes we call her Rica.
Marco: Oh, Rica, also.
Cinzia: Oh, yeah.
Marco: Oh, that’s a complete change.
Cinzia: Yeah.
Marco: And, well, unfortunately there are no compound names with Federico or Federica, right?
Cinzia: No, no, we don’t have compound names.
Marco: And what about famous people whose name is Federico?
Cinzia: Oh, I’m sure everyone knows this person.
Marco: Who is he, who is he?
Cinzia: Federico Fellini.
Marco: Yes, he’s one of the best known Italian directors, I mean movie directors.
Cinzia: His fame actually crossed the European borders and reached almost every part of the world.
Marco: Especially in the case of films such as “Otto e mezzo”, “i Vitelloni” and “La Dolce Vita”.
Cinzia: Oh, yes. The Sweet Life.
Marco: What about “Amarcord”?
Cinzia: Have you seen it?
Marco: No, actually I haven’t.
Cinzia: Me neither.
Marco: Really?
Cinzia: No. But I know where the name Amarcord word comes from.
Marco: Where did it come from?
Cinzia: It comes from dialect.
Marco: Really?
Cinzia: Yes. From Emilia Romagna.
Marco: Oh, so we should ask Cristina to say it, I think. Cristina is from Cesena, so…
Cinzia: Oh, yeah. It’s true. Oh, we should invite her.
Marco: Yes, we’ll try to get her to say this word and explain a bit about Amarcord in the future.
Cinzia: Yes.
Marco: But what does it mean? We still haven’t said it.
Cinzia: It means: I remember.
Marco: So maybe Amarcord can be broken down as to A-
Cinzia: -Ma-Rcord.
Marco: So, “I remember myself”. “A ma rcord me”, maybe. So, “I remember”.
Cinzia: It comes from “Io mi ricordo”. It’s very interesting, actually.

Outro
Marco: And well, I think, this is enough for today’s lesson, isn’t it?
Cinzia: Yes, that’s all for today. Thank you, Marco, thank you, dear listeners and see you next time.
Marco: Ciao ciao.
Cinzia: Ciao.

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