nannu

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Maltese

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

Borrowed from Sicilian nannu.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

nannu m (plural nanniet or nannujiet or nannijiet, feminine nanna)

  1. grandfather
    Synonym: ġidd
    • 2018, Antoinette Borg, Amina, Merlin Publishers, →ISBN:
      Imnalla għajjatlu Fredu u kellu jwaqqaf l-eloġju ta’ nannuh, għax naħseb l-istorja li kien imiss kienet li għandu xi gżira privata.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. Used to show respect when addressing old men.
    Alternative form: nann

Inflection

[edit]
    Inflected forms
Personal-pronoun-
including forms
singular plural
m f
1st person nannuwi nannuna
2nd person nannuk nannukom
3rd person nannuh nannuha nannuhom
[edit]

Sicilian

[edit]
This entry needs a photograph or drawing for illustration. Please try to find a suitable image on Wikimedia Commons or upload one there yourself!
Particularly: "of sense 2, something that isn't Peppe Nappa"
Peppe Nappa, a float of the Sciacca Carnival, lit up at the end of the holiday, like a nannu (sense 2) would have been.

Etymology

[edit]

Compare Italian nonno.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

[edit]

nannu m (plural nanni, feminine nanna)

  1. grandfather
    jiri comu li ganghi di me nannuto shake, to be unstable (literally, “to be like my grandfather's teeth”)
    li cartuleggi di so nannupast things (literally, “one's grandfather's old papers”)
    Chi ura di chiànciri a me nannu!
    (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    Cu voli a so nannu si lu preja.
    (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    Si me nannu nun fussi mortu, ancora sarrìa vivu.
    (please add an English translation of this usage example)
  2. Local folkloric figure personification of Carnival, a dummy resembling a devil that is lit up at the end of the festivities.
    nannu (di) Carnilivari
    mòriri lu nannuto burn the nannu
  3. (colloquial) Term to address old men. grandpa, gramps

Descendants

[edit]
  • Maltese: nannu

References

[edit]
  • Traina, Antonino (1868) “nannu”, in Nuovo vocabolario Siciliano-Italiano [New Sicilian-Italian vocabulary] (in Italian), Liber Liber, published 2020, pages 2643–2644
  • Pasqualino (c. 1790) “nannu”, in Vocabolario siciliano etimologico, italiano e latino (in Italian), volume 3, page 241
  • Mortillaro, Vincenzo (1862) “nànnu”, in Nuovo vocabolario siciliano-italiano (in Italian), page 562