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Title

Romagnolo <italic>fe(r) e’ curdo(n)</italic> ‘fare le fusa’.

Authors

Baglioni, Daniele

Abstract

In this article the Romagnolo locution fe(r) e’ curdo(n) ‘to purr’ is considered in regard to its etymology. It is argued that the word curdo(n) ‘string’ is a paretymological reinterpretation of burdon ‘burden, drone’, a technical music term designating the lowest course of a lute and, more generally, a uniform bass accompaniment. Hence the locution would have been playfully applied to the purr of cats, whose noise resembles a bass accompaniment because of its low pitch and assiduity.

Subjects

DIALECT literature; ETYMOLOGY; INTONATION (Phonetics); ITALIAN language; SEMANTICS

Publication

Zeitschrift für Romanische Philologie, 2018, Vol 134, Issue 2, p533

ISSN

0049-8661

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.1515/zrp-2018-0031