Pigòta

The Pigòta (or Pigotta) was in Lombardy's languages that rag doll that the grannies homemade (expecially in the rural areas)for the female children utilising cloth's remnants ,wrecked old sweaters , rags and so on. The term derives from an ancient Langobard word, piga,meaning 'girl'(pigòta is a diminutive of piga). According to Skinner, quoted in John Jamieson's'An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language'(1825) in Anglo-Saxon piga had the identical meaning ('a girl') as in ancient Lombard (Danish pige ,Swedish piga,Icelandic and Old Norse pika ='girl'). image: medieval cooking

Sprùn

Of the same 'etymo' are our Mantfàn dialectal noun 'sprùn', Valtellinese sperùn (spur) and the verb 'sprunà' (to incite). These words derive (as the Italian sperone -sprone in Dante- and the French éperon) from the Old High German, Langobard and Frank sporo (spur), akin to Anglo-Saxon spura, Icelandic spori, Danish spore, Proto-Germanic spuron. Giacomo Devoto (cfr. 'Avviamento all'Etimologia Italiana) have seen that 'sporo' became the medieval Latin 'sporonus' in a 'glossa' of the 8th Century. Langobards were very able horsemen (having learnt some'techniques'by Avar Huns), that's why they have left many words related to horses or horseriding. 'A sprùn batü' in Mantuan means 'to go very fast'(identical as in Shakespeare's 'Now spurs the lated traveler.'. Image: lombard horseman Bern (CH)historische Museum

G'èt spüra

Another 'unconventional' expression (compared with standard Italian) we do have in mantuan 'languages is 'g'èt Spüra?' (do you have an itch, urge'?). The Italian word for 'itch' is prurito (directly from Latin pruritus), while our spüra (Modenese(Emilian) spira)in my opinion can be another survived relic of the ancient Lombardic language related and cognate to the English word spur (Old English spura, Old Norse spori). As noticed in the Online Etymology Dictionary , spur ,in English, I quote, in the:'Generalized sense of "anything that urges on, stimulus," is from late 14th Century,or spur means also' anything that goads, impels, or urges' , in effect the Spüra (itch) urges or 'goads' the skin:) In nowadays Swedish Spörra means 'to perceive' (according to numerous lecturers in their early origin langobards came from southern Sweden, Scadanan according to Paul the deacon). Image: Paul the Deacon , aka Paul Warnefried or also Paolo di Varnefrido (Cividale del Friuli, 720 – Montecassino, 799)

Sö! fàt an bèl sigh !

The ancient language of the Lombards (or Langobards) has left numerous tracks in modern Italian. What’s more, that ‘mysterious’ language (a strange mix of Old Norse, Old Saxon and Old High German) had influences on the medieval formation of the so called ‘vulgar’, spoken dialects (but I prefer to use the term ‘languages’) of some regions as Lombardy, Emilia, Frioul etc. To say ‘to cry’ in modern Italian we say ‘piangere’ (from ancient Latin plangere (properly ‘to hit’), ancient Italian plorare (like the French pleurer or the Catalan plorar from Latin plorare (to cry, to complain). In my ‘dialect’ (low mantuan , aka Mantfàn) to say ‘cry, to cry’ , instead we say ‘ sigh /sighàa’. I still remember when my granny’s brother, knowing her capacity to be ‘moved’ when he reminisced of old aunties of theirs or ‘the old times’, to mock her, he told her jokingly, in ‘dialect ‘: ’ sö! fàt an bèl sigh’ (= c’mon! do a ’nice’ cry!) In my humble opinion this dialectal ‘sigh’ of ours is an ‘archeological’ relic of an ancient Lombard word cognate with the modern English word sigh ( from Old English sighte, past tense of sican (to sigh),Old Saxon swogan (to rustle)) . This shows how important, the so often ‘despised’ (in the past, by some ‘pompous’ lecturers ) ‘dialects’ for the study of mediaeval history, in fact are. Attached is a picture of our beloved Mantuan countryside, in early February, thanks to Joanna for the scan. Bibliografia minima: PAUL THE DEACON History of the Lombards, AA.VV. I Longobardi e la Lombardia. Saggi, 1978, OTTO VON HESSEN La Cultura Materiale Presso I Longobardi (ib. , 1978), WILLIAM D. FOULKE /AUGUSTA EDEL History of the Langobards, 1907, GIANCARLO MENIS(a cura di) L’Italia Longobarda, 1991, JÖRG JARNUT Storia dei Longobardi (Geschichte der Langobarden ),1982, CLAUDIO AZZARA L’Italia dei Barbari, 2002, GIANLUIGI BARNI I Longobardi in Italia, 1974, MARIO BRIOZZI (a cura di) Longobardi , 1980, VITTORIA GRAZI Le Parole Lombarde di Origine Longobarda, 1978,