Tag: Venetian words
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Quarantine – forty days of isolation
Quarantine is derived from the Venetian (and Italian) word for forty, because the quarantine period on the Lazzaretto Nuovo ended up around forty days.
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Ciao – I’m you’re slave
Ciao – the Italian informal salute – is actually Venetian, and has its roots in the medieval slave trade.
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Ballot and ballottaggio
The Venetian lawmakers voted by casting a small ball in a vase. That ball, a balote, became a ballot in the United States.
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The word “Lazzaretto”
The word “Lazaret” (“Lazzaretto” in Italian) comes from the original name of the medieval plague hospital in the Venetian Lagoon.