{"id":134,"date":"2009-05-07T08:42:29","date_gmt":"2009-05-07T12:42:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=134"},"modified":"2009-05-07T08:42:29","modified_gmt":"2009-05-07T12:42:29","slug":"cicero%e2%80%99s-chickpea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/cicero%e2%80%99s-chickpea\/","title":{"rendered":"Cicero\u2019s chickpea"},"content":{"rendered":"
A few days ago I\u00a0had an interesting reply to\u00a0my blog La Farinata<\/strong> from Vince, who wrote: \u201cDid you know that Cicero is a nickname meaning chick pea? Thus it seems the word is ceci<\/strong> in modern Italian. At least this is what I have read\u201d.<\/span> <\/em>I was intrigued by this comment and decided to do a bit of research. <\/span>I first looked in my faithful Dizionario della Lingua Italiana Treccani<\/strong>, which\u00a0told me\u00a0that the word cece<\/strong> (chickpea) comes from the Latin cicer<\/strong>, and that in the South of Italy the word for chickpea is still cicero<\/strong>. In Puglia there is in fact a famous dish called \u2018ciceri e tria\u2019 <\/strong>(chickpeas and pasta, tria<\/em> being a type of pasta from that region). My dictionary\u00a0also informed me\u00a0that the word cece<\/strong> is used to describe a fleshy growth in the form of a chickpea. Hmm, this is all very interesting, but what about Cicerone <\/strong>(Cicero)?\u00a0Certainly the words cicer <\/strong>(in Italian cece<\/strong>)\u00a0and Cicerone<\/strong> sound very similar, but my dictionary couldn\u2019t help me any further. <\/span>I had to find out more: was that famous obnoxious Latin author that I had to study and translate for five miserable years at school really\u00a0called chickpea? I did a search on the Internet and YES, indeed he was! <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Marcus Tullius Cicero was\u00a0a Roman orator, philosopher and politician who lived in the\u00a0first century B.C. Apparently \u201cCicero\u201d was the nickname given to one of his ancestors who had a big wart on his nose in the shape of a chickpea. This nickname, or \u201ccognomen\u201d, was subsequently passed on to following generations, and when Marcus Tullius started his political career he decide, against his friends\u2019 advice, to keep it.<\/span><\/p>\n

And what about Cicero\u2019s political career? Well, after 2000 and something years he is not doing so well because these days he scrapes a living out of being a tourist guide! Why do I say that? Well, in modern Italian, the word Cicerone<\/strong> is used to describe someone who is paid\u00a0to guide visitors through a museum, a historic city or an archaeological site whilst\u00a0describing the works of art and architecture!<\/span><\/p>\n

That reminds me of a silly poem that I used to recite when I was at school, written in so called latino maccheronico<\/strong> (false Latin) and passed on by many generations of Italian students:<\/span><\/p>\n

Cicero Ciceronis<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

mangiabat maccheronis,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

et quanti ne mangiabat!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cicero crepabat.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cicero of Cicero<\/span><\/p>\n

ate macaroni,<\/span><\/p>\n

and how much he ate!<\/span><\/p>\n

Cicero fell dead.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This poem will definitely <\/span>never win any literary prize, but it did win our imagination!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days ago I\u00a0had an interesting reply to\u00a0my blog La Farinata from Vince, who wrote: \u201cDid you know that Cicero is a nickname meaning chick pea? Thus it seems the word is ceci in modern Italian. At least this is what I have read\u201d. I was intrigued by this comment and decided to do…<\/p>\n

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