Sicilian Dialect - Meaning of "Yadina"

James Pannozzi

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Aug 15, 2001, 7:54:43 PM8/15/01

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What does the word "Yadina" mean in Sicilian?

Does anyone know the dialect which uses this word too?

Thanks
Jim

James Pannozzi

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Aug 16, 2001, 8:51:52 PM8/16/01

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Whoops! I should have indicated that this is phonetic spelling. The word
sounds like "Yadeena" .

I suspect that it means "chicken". But in what dialect (indeed if it is
Sicilian at all).

Thanks
Jim

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joe935

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Aug 17, 2001, 7:30:12 AM8/17/01

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Would help to know how the word was being used.
It could possibly mean garden or little garden.
Alot of words thought to be Italian were words made up by our ancestors.
I always thought the word bacouwse (phonetic) was Sicilian for bathroom but
it was the word used of OutHouse "back of the House"

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Sasso

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Aug 17, 2001, 10:36:57 AM8/17/01

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Any words that have Y's or W's in them can't be italian words. Italian
alphabet doesn't support J, K, W, X, Y.
That word "Yadina" sounds very corrupted. The only similar italian word I
know is "piadina" (a kind of bread similar to pizza, but with no cheese or
tomato), but that's not sicilian.
"Iardina" could be a spelling for "giardino" (= garden) used in the south of
Italy, Sicily included. But I have to confess that I am not from Southern
Italy and don't know much Sicilian dialect.
Ciao from Italy.

--
Sasso67
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Mike Setaro

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Aug 17, 2001, 11:19:00 AM8/17/01

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I grew up with the word in our Neapolitan family and Tricariconese family
with the word "Baa-couse" (phonetic) and was told when I was in my
mid-thirties that the word was not Italian but English. Our grandparents
was speaking English and were saying "the back house". I thank God that I
never had to go to the "back house", and for indoor plumbing.

Mike Setaro

Jeff & Gina

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Aug 17, 2001, 1:21:20 PM8/17/01

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That is what my parents thought "bacowsa" was also until I saw it in a book
what it really meant!!

______________________________

JF

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Aug 17, 2001, 5:13:24 PM8/17/01

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On Thu, 16 Aug 2001 20:51:52 -0400, "James Pannozzi"
<jims...@mindspring.com> wrote:

>Whoops! I should have indicated that this is phonetic spelling. The word
>sounds like "Yadeena" .

I'm not Sicilian but I'm sure the more likely sound is "Gadeena", the
Italian equivalent is GALLINA, "chicken".

Best Regards

JF

James Pannozzi

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Aug 18, 2001, 1:43:56 PM8/18/01

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OK, my query was too vague but I have more info on the use of this (possibly
slang) word.
Thanks to everyone for the responses.

Here is a typical usage:

One Sicilian person, jokingly refers to another Sicilian person (a woman)
who eats too much chicken as "Yadeena",
or says to that person , "I'll have to call you Yadeena!".

Both persons immediately start laughing so this is obviously some kind of
hilarious comment.

I still think that the word is some kind of archaic Sicilian slang for
"chicken" but so far nobody seems able to verify this.

Thanks
Jim

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Joseph L Richichi

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Aug 24, 2001, 7:58:45 PM8/24/01

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I can vouch that yadina means chicken... it's local dialect in much of
southern Calabria too. I was born in the small village of Fiumara and my
parents and brothers still say that to refer to chicken, be it soup,
sandwich, roast etc...
Let's get on to another word..

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