REQ: Paparazzi word origin
Mary F. Heath
Reference: paparazzi (plural form)
paparazzo (singular form)
Though "paparazzi" is an Italian word, clearly it has been absorbed into
that amorphous body of words frequently used in spoken and written
English; therefore it is suitable for attention in alt.usage.english.
My unabridged dictionaries do not include the word "paparazzi", so I
turned to AHD3. This is the entry:
*paparazzo* n., pl. *-zi*. A freelance photographer who doggedly
pursues celebrities to take candid pictures for sale to magazines and
newspapers. [After Signor Paparazzo, a character in *La Dolce Vita*, a
movie by Federico Fellini]
A post dated 1 SEP 1997 on the alt.journalism.photo newsgroup states
that the word comes from a combination of the Italian words for
*mosquito* and "flashlight". My reference (Alfred A. Hoare, _A Short
Italian Dictionary_) gave the word "zanzara" for mosquito and had no
entry under either "flashlight" or "torch".
With or without a flashlight or torch, could somebody in a.u.e-land shed
light on this question that is niggling at my mind?
Mary Heath
Ronald D. Cuthbertson
I heard on a news program that is is an Italian word for a small
flying insect that constantly buzzes people (thereby getting their
attention and constantly annoying them).
But the AHD3 source is probably valid. Any one know about the
movie La Dolce Vita (by Federico Fellini) and the occupation or
hobby or pastime of the character Signor Paparazzo? Is he
a photographer?
Regards
Ron
Bun Mui
> From: "Mary F. Heath" <mhe...@goldrush.com>
> Reply to: [1]mhe...@goldrush.com
> Date: Tue, 02 Sep 1997 10:36:46 -0700
>
>Reference: paparazzi (plural form)
> paparazzo (singular form)
>
>Though "paparazzi" is an Italian word, clearly it has been absorbed into
>that amorphous body of words frequently used in spoken and written
>English; therefore it is suitable for attention in alt.usage.english.
>
>My unabridged dictionaries do not include the word "paparazzi", so I
>turned to AHD3. This is the entry:
> *paparazzo* n., pl. *-zi*. A freelance photographer who doggedly
>pursues celebrities to take candid pictures for sale to magazines and
>newspapers. [After Signor Paparazzo, a character in *La Dolce Vita*, a
>movie by Federico Fellini]
>
>A post dated 1 SEP 1997 on the alt.journalism.photo newsgroup states
>that the word comes from a combination of the Italian words for
>*mosquito* and "flashlight". My reference (Alfred A. Hoare, _A Short
>Italian Dictionary_) gave the word "zanzara" for mosquito and had no
>entry under either "flashlight" or "torch".
>
>With or without a flashlight or torch, could somebody in a.u.e-land shed
>light on this question that is niggling at my mind?
Maybe the Italians meant "fire fly".
Bun Mui
Please remove "x" at the front and end of "BunMui" to e-mail me.
Bob Cunningham
"Mary F. Heath" <mhe...@goldrush.com> said:
>Reference: paparazzi (plural form)
> paparazzo (singular form)
>
>Though "paparazzi" is an Italian word, clearly it has been absorbed into
>that amorphous body of words frequently used in spoken and written
>English; therefore it is suitable for attention in alt.usage.english.
>
>My unabridged dictionaries do not include the word "paparazzi", so I
>turned to AHD3. This is the entry:
> *paparazzo* n., pl. *-zi*. A freelance photographer who doggedly
>pursues celebrities to take candid pictures for sale to magazines and
>newspapers. [After Signor Paparazzo, a character in *La Dolce Vita*, a
>movie by Federico Fellini]
RHWCD/95 is a little more helpful than AHD3 is. Like AHD3 it says that
"paparazzo" means "a freelance photographer, especially one who takes
candid pictures of celebrities for publication", but in the etymology it
says that the character in Fellini's film *was* "such a photographer".
>A post dated 1 SEP 1997 on the alt.journalism.photo newsgroup states
>that the word comes from a combination of the Italian words for
>*mosquito* and "flashlight". My reference (Alfred A. Hoare, _A Short
>Italian Dictionary_) gave the word "zanzara" for mosquito and had no
>entry under either "flashlight" or "torch".
The _Harper Collins Italian Dictionary_ has for both "flashlight" and
"torch" "lampadina tascabile". "Lampada" means "lamp", "lampadina"
means "light bulb", "tasca" is the noun "pocket", and "tascabile" is the
adjective "pocket".
Someone in this thread has said that a "paparazzo" is a small insect
that buzzes around people and is extremely annoying, or words to that
effect. Professor Lawler has lightly dismissed that possibility, but I
still find it quite plausible. I've posted an inquiry in
soc.culture.italian to see if a native Italian speaker will confirm or
deny the annoying-insect theory, and also asking for any other
suggestions about how the writer(s) of "La Dolce Vita" may have come up
with the surname "Paparazzo".
Incidentally, to the lexicographers of NSOED/93, who give as the
complete etymology of "paparazzo" "It.": Thanks a heap, folks!
The 1993 _The Chambers Dictionary_ is a bit more expansive: Its full
treatment of the etymology of "paparazzo" is "Ital".
Bob Cunningham
ad...@lafn.org (Bob Cunningham) said:
[...]
>I've posted an inquiry in
>soc.culture.italian to see if a native Italian speaker will confirm or
>deny the annoying-insect theory, and also asking for any other
>suggestions about how the writer(s) of "La Dolce Vita" may have come up
>with the surname "Paparazzo".
Okay, before I posted to s.c.i. I downloaded all headers from that
group, searched them for "razz", and got no hits. I posted my inquiry,
then a few minutes later I downloaded s.c.i. headers again, searched on
"razz" again, and found that an inquiry dated 3 September had just
arrived, along with a couple of responses. I guess I'll let my posting
stand, though; maybe a different subject line will catch different eyes
and we'll get some better responses.
Jack van Felder
On Tue, 02 Sep 1997 10:36:46 -0700, in alt.usage.english, Mary F. Heath
wrote:
>Reference: paparazzi (plural form)
> paparazzo (singular form)
>
>Though "paparazzi" is an Italian word, clearly it has been absorbed into
>that amorphous body of words frequently used in spoken and written
>English; therefore it is suitable for attention in alt.usage.english.
I've heard "stalkarazzi" used by some celebs and talking heads (and not
just since Diana's death) to give the term "paparazzi" a slightly more
pointed meaning.
--
JvF
00nzwi...@bsuvc.bsu.edu
I'd like to take credit for the coinage of mamarazzi for those ambush
TV women who drag trashy characters onto talk shows.
--
Nyal Z. Williams
00nzwi...@bsuvc.bsu.edu
Bob Cunningham
inkslinger@{fog}sunshine.net (Maureen Goldman) said:
>
>tsu...@wave.us (Jack van Felder) wrote:
>
>> I've heard "stalkarazzi" used by some celebs and talking heads (and not
>> just since Diana's death) to give the term "paparazzi" a slightly more
>> pointed meaning.
>
>I'm not sure, but I believe the term "stalkerazzi" may have been
>coined by the lawyer handling Alec Baldwin's defence at an assault
>trial. I was looking it up the other day, and I didn't see anything
>going further back. The Colorado newspaper account said that this was
>the way in which the lawyer referred to the photographer who was the
>assaultee.
In trying to learn more about the origin of "paparazzo" by appealing to
readers in soc.culture.italian, I've learned that "-azzo" is a
depreciatory ending that may be tacked onto any noun. The more
legitimate form is "-accio", but "-azzo" is used colloquially. It's
equivalent to the depreciatory ending "-acho" in Spanish.
For example, in Italian a soccer goal is called a "gol", and a goal that
is somehow bizarre is a "golazzo". (If a goal tender jumps to catch the
ball in a shot on goal and he inadvertently lands inside his net, would
that be a golazzo? I saw that come close to happening in a recent game
on TV. It appeared to me that the goal tender made a definite -- and
successful -- effort to land on the right side of the line.)
In light of that information the word "stalkerazzo" (plural
"stalkerazzi") can be regarded as a hybrid formation (like "television",
"contronym", and "automobile") from elements of two different languages:
"stalker" from English and the depreciatory ending "-azzo" from
colloquial Italian.
It's tempting to call "stalkerazzo" a portmanteau word, but as I
understand the term "portmanteau word" it refers to a word that is
formed from the first part of one word and the last part of another word
.. (See the a.u.e FAQ at line 3651.) "Stalkerazzo" is formed from the
entire first word, not the first part of it. Is it still a portmanteau
word?
John Nurick
From the latest _Economist_ (6 Sept 97)
>...the word itself was coined way back in 1959 by
>Federico Fellini, who gave the name of Paparazzo
>to a rapacious photographer in his film "La Dolce Vita".*
The asterisk links it to this footnote:
>Fellini's scriptwriter, Ennio Flaiano, took the name from
>"By the Ionian Sea", a book by George Gissing.
>Coriolano Paparazzo was the proprietor of the hotel in
>Catanzaro where the British poet had stayed 100
>years earlier on his travels round Calabria. Gissing's
>book is still on sale in Calabria, in an excellent Italian
>translation.
I feel _The Economist_ is asking a bit much of its readers in
expecting them to have read Gissing. Does anyone know who was the
"British poet"?
John
I dislocated my e-mail address, and the doctor says it will be
six months before I can see a specialist.
Robert Lieblich
Truly Donovan wrote:
>
> Bob Cunningham wrote:
>
> > It's tempting to call "stalkerazzo" a portmanteau word, but as I
> > understand the term "portmanteau word" it refers to a word that is
> > formed from the first part of one word and the last part of another word
> > .. (See the a.u.e FAQ at line 3651.) "Stalkerazzo" is formed from the
> > entire first word, not the first part of it. Is it still a portmanteau
> > word?
>
> It would seem unfair to burden "portmanteau" with this requirement, inasmuch
> as "manteau" is a complete word; it is too many years since high school French
> for me to say with confidence that "port" is a complete word, too, but it
> seems likely, and if it isn't, it has only lost a character or two.
>
> It's a "carrycoat" after all, not a "carroat."
Lewis Carroll, who coined the usage, also invented a number of specific
portmanteau words, and not all of them adhered to the "beginning of one,
end of another" requirement. E.g., "slithy," a portmanteau of "lithe"
and "slimy," which is a sandwich rather than a beginning-and-end word.
See also "chortle," a combination of "chuckle" and "snort."
A portmanteau word, to me, is any that packs two words and their
meanings into one, however that is done. I think the two I have cited
are cleverer than the sort to which Bob Cunningham thinks the definition
restricted.
Bob Lieblich <lieb...@erols.com>
Truly Donovan
Bob Cunningham wrote:
> It's tempting to call "stalkerazzo" a portmanteau word, but as I
> understand the term "portmanteau word" it refers to a word that is
> formed from the first part of one word and the last part of another word
> .. (See the a.u.e FAQ at line 3651.) "Stalkerazzo" is formed from the
> entire first word, not the first part of it. Is it still a portmanteau
> word?
It would seem unfair to burden "portmanteau" with this requirement, inasmuch
as "manteau" is a complete word; it is too many years since high school French
for me to say with confidence that "port" is a complete word, too, but it
seems likely, and if it isn't, it has only lost a character or two.
It's a "carrycoat" after all, not a "carroat."
--
Truly Donovan
reply to truly at lunemere dot com
Brian J Goggin
On Mon, 08 Sep 1997 20:34:06 GMT, j.nu...@ialday.ipexpay.omcay (John
Nurick) wrote:
>From the latest _Economist_ (6 Sept 97)
>
>>...the word itself was coined way back in 1959 by
>>Federico Fellini, who gave the name of Paparazzo
>>to a rapacious photographer in his film "La Dolce Vita".*
>
>The asterisk links it to this footnote:
>
>>Fellini's scriptwriter, Ennio Flaiano, took the name from
>>"By the Ionian Sea", a book by George Gissing.
>>Coriolano Paparazzo was the proprietor of the hotel in
>>Catanzaro where the British poet had stayed 100
>>years earlier on his travels round Calabria. Gissing's
>>book is still on sale in Calabria, in an excellent Italian
>>translation.
>
>I feel _The Economist_ is asking a bit much of its readers in
>expecting them to have read Gissing. Does anyone know who was the
>"British poet"?
>
Golly. This is like *Round Britain Quiz*.
Gissing was born in 1857 and died in 1903. If "100 years earlier" is
to be taken literally, "the British poet" is unlikely to refer to
Gissing himself, who would have been only two years old at the time.
Gissing's book *By the Ionian Sea* (1901) is said to be "impressions
of Italy". He was, however, a novelist rather than a poet. His diaries
were published in 1978 under the title *The Diary of George Gissing,
Novelist*.
I have known *The Economist* to make a mistake: it once attributed to
Groucho Marx a saying by Boyle Roche.
bjg
Keith C. Ivey
Truly Donovan <tr...@lunemere.spamkiller.com> wrote:
>It would seem unfair to burden "portmanteau" with this requirement, inasmuch
>as "manteau" is a complete word; it is too many years since high school French
>for me to say with confidence that "port" is a complete word, too, but it
>seems likely, and if it isn't, it has only lost a character or two.
I don't think that "portmanteau" is supposed to be a portmanteau
word. It's a compound word in French, but I don't think all
compounds are portmanteau words, and in any case it's not a
compound in English. Lewis Carroll used "portmanteau word" to
describe such words because they have multiple meanings packed
into them, as a portmanteau/valise/suitcase has clothes packed
into it.
Keith C. Ivey <kci...@cpcug.org>
http://cpcug.org/user/kcivey/
Washington, DC
William C Waterhouse
In article <34144aa5...@news.dial.pipex.com>,
> From the latest _Economist_ (6 Sept 97)
>
> >...the word itself was coined way back in 1959 by
> >Federico Fellini, who gave the name of Paparazzo
> >to a rapacious photographer in his film "La Dolce Vita".*
>
> The asterisk links it to this footnote:
>
> >Fellini's scriptwriter, Ennio Flaiano, took the name from
> >"By the Ionian Sea", a book by George Gissing.
> >Coriolano Paparazzo was the proprietor of the hotel in
> >Catanzaro where the British poet had stayed 100
> >years earlier on his travels round Calabria. Gissing's
> >book is still on sale in Calabria, in an excellent Italian
> >translation.
>
> I feel _The Economist_ is asking a bit much of its readers in
> expecting them to have read Gissing. Does anyone know who was the
> "British poet"?
Gissing's book (subtitled "Notes of a Ramble in Southern Italy")
is in our library, so I could check. Paparazzo was the hotel
owner Gissing himself encountered. Presumably the writer mistakenly
called him a poet. (Or perhaps his writing sounds more lyrical
in Italian.) I would guess that the "100 years earlier" was meant
to be merely "100 years ago."
William C. Waterhouse
Penn State
P.S. I have heard people claim that "paparazzo" is a word for an insect
in Italian, but that seems to be a mistake. There is a word "pappataci"
that refers to gnats and similar insects. (It means "eat and be quiet,"
and it is used also for a complaisant husband.)