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Italian Much of English is made up of words from other languages, and Italian is a very important contributor, especially to music, the other arts, and cuisine. Many music terms are direct borrowings from Italian, while others came into English via Italian from other languages. These words traverse the broad landscape of music, occupying numerous subcategories. A few representative examples are these: directions, agitato, con sordino, grandioso, lentissimo, vivace; composition, capriccio, concerto, fantasia, intermezzo, operetta; performers and singing-voice ranges, alto, basso, diva, contralto, soprano; and instruments, ocarina, piano, timpani, violin, violoncello. The word segue, originally restricted in use to music, has extended its meanings over time. Dating from the mid-18th century, this Italian borrowing goes back to Latin sequi "follow."
To the other arts Italian has contributed words like fresco, tarantella, galleria, cameo, and literati. To cuisine, Italian's prolific contributions are evidenced by these representative examples: antipasto, calamari, cappuccino, espresso, gnocchi, maraschino, mozzarella, pasta (and the words for all its shapes and varieties), pizza, spumoni, zabaglione, and zucchini. The word tetrazzini, as in chicken tetrazzini, is an eponym based on the surname of the Italian opera diva Luisa Tetrazzini (1874-1940).
Italian has also contributed various miscellaneous words to English, for example, ghetto, regatta, rialto (from the marketplace district of Venice so named), trattoria, the soccer term catenaccio, paparazzo (first recorded in English in the mid-20th century, from the surname of a photographer in the 1959 Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita), and the interjection ciao, used in English especially to say "goodbye," Italian dialect for "(I am your) slave."
Italian has been the transport language of many émigrés with origins in other languages. For example, tariff, first recorded in English in the late 16th century, arrived via Italian tariffa, which goes back to Arabic ta'rif "notification, inventory of fees to be paid." Graffito, the plural of which is graffiti, is first recorded in English in the mid-19th century. Graffito is a direct borrowing from Italian and in that language it means "scribbling."
Some English words transported to English by Italian but having other roots have undergone alterations to the extent that their Italian and ultimate ancestral connections may not be readily apparent at first glance. Such is the case with garble, especially interesting because it underwent major spelling and meaning changes over the centuries. First recorded in English in the 15th century, garble is traced to Italian garbellare "to sift," then to Arabic ġarbala "to select," from late Latin cribellum "small sieve," from Latin cribrum "sieve." Garble is rooted in Mediterranean commerce, where as a verb it meant "to sift or cull refuse from spices," later coming to mean "to pick and choose the best." Now its most common meaning is just the opposite: "to confuse a message or information so that it is misleading or unintelligible."
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