There is an old Italian movie directed by Federico Fellini in 1957, that me and Geoff love: Le Notti di Cabiria (Nights of Cabiria. Click on link for more information). Giulietta Masina, Fellini’s wife, wonderfully portraits a very naive prostitute, or rather una battona, as they say in Rome. Cabiria is the professional name of the main character, a prostitute who lives and works in the suburb of  Rome, on the notorious Via Appia, set in a very deprived area. I’m not going to tell you any more about the film, because you must watch it if you haven’t seen it yet. However, what I will tell you  are the many words that we use in Italian to describe a prostitute! Probably because this is il mestiere più antico del mondo (the oldest trade in the world), we do have a lot of words, and they have different connotations: some are more derogatory, whilst some are more euphemistic, almost poetic! Let’s have a look at the most common names, starting from the fairly neutral and going down to the most offensive:

Prostituta (prostitute) is probably the most technical term. It comes from the Latin verb ‘prostituire’ which means ‘to put for sale’

Passeggiatrice (stroller) is a euphemism to describe the prostitute walking up and down on the pavement

Peripatetica (peripatetic) comes from Greek and means exactly the same as passeggiatrice, to walk around, but it’s the most intellectual of all the titles for a prostitute. I must admit that, having always heard this word used with the meaning of prostitute, I was somewhat shocked when I went to England looking for a job, and my English uncle suggested that I become ‘a peripatetic teacher’!

Lucciola (fire fly), the most poetic name! She uses a bright light to attract the males, just like the lucciola

Squillo (call girl), squillo literally means the ring of a telephone

Let’s move on now to stronger titles:

Puttana is the most common derogatory term for a prostitute. It comes from the French ‘putain’ which in turn comes from the Latin ‘putidus’ meaning ‘stinking’. It is used as an insult but, I must say, it’s not the worst

Battona is originally a Roman word. It comes from battere il marciapiede (to walk/beat the pavement)

Baldracca, interestingly, comes from the name of an ancient Florentine Inn used by prostitutes. In my opinion this is a more derogatory word than the previous two

Sgualdrina, funnily enough, is a deformation of the ‘baldracca’. I would say that this is the strongest term that a posh, well educated person would use. In fact, it’s the classic word used in films and books from the Fifties and Sixties

Finally, those that I would consider the most derogatory epithets:

Zoccola is probably a corruption of the Latin word ‘sorcula’, a diminutive of ‘sorcis’ (rat), combined with the Italian word ‘zoccolo’, a rough person who wears ‘zoccoli’ (clogs)!

Troia is the Medieval word for ‘sow’ (a female pig). The problem with this word is that it’s spelled and pronounced exactly like the Italian name for the historical city of Troy. Therefore, when the famous movie starring Brad Pitt was released in Italy a few years ago, the producers decided to keep the original English title, Troy, just to be on the safe side! A film released under the title Troia in Italy would probably draw quite a different type of audience!