Italian and Spanish

For grammatical abbreviations ABBREVIATIONS

Vocabulary

Item Example Translation
alla (prep.) TS I.ii.25 to the
basta (v.) TS I.i.195 enough
ben trovato TS I.ii.24 well met
ben venuto TS I.ii.25 welcome
bona (adj.) 2H6 IV.vii.52 good
casa (n. f.) TS I.ii.25 house
chi (pron.) LLL IV.ii.97 who
con (prep.) TS I.ii.24 with
coragio (n. m.) Tem V.i.257 courage
cuore (n. m.) TS I.ii.24 heart
Diablo (n. m.) Oth II.iii.155 Devil
gens (n. f.) 2H6 IV.vii.52 people
honorato (v.) TS I.ii.26 honoured
il (det. m.) TS I.ii.24 the
mala (n. m.) 2H6 IV.vii.52 evil
mi (pron.) TS I.i.25 me
mio (det.) TS I.ii.26 my
molto (adv.) TS I.ii.26 most
non (part.) LLL IV.ii.97 not
nostra (det.) TS I.ii.25 our
passa (v.) TNK III.v.87 go by
perdonato (v.) TS I.i.25 excuse
pretia (v.) LLL IV.ii.97 prize
roba (n.f.) 2H4 III.ii.22 material
signor (n. m.) TS I.ii.26 mister
terra (n. f.) 2H6 IV.vii.52 country
ti (pron.) LLL IV.ii.97 you
tutto (adj.) TS I.ii.24 all
vede (v.) LLL IV.ii.97 see
Venetia (n. f.) LLL IV.ii.96 Venice
via (int.) E3 II.ii.12 away!

The motto described by Thaisa in Per II.ii.27 as ‘Spanish’ - pue per doleera kee per forsa [‘more by gentleness than by force’] - is actually much closer to Italian.

Q item Probable Italian word Translation
doleera dolcezza gentleness
forsa forza force
kee que than
per by
pue piu more


Similarly, the utterances by Pistol (2H4 II.iv.176 and 2H4 V.v.99) are garbled mixtures of Italian and Spanish: Si fortune me tormente sperato me contento and Si fortuna me tormenta, spero me contenta (‘If fortune torments me, hope contents me’). Christopher Sly (TS induction.1.5) also seems to be attempting Spanish in his paucas pallabris (‘few words’, i.e. ‘be brief’), elliptically but accurately uttered by Dogberry as palabras (MA III.v.15). The only other piece of Spanish is Don Armado’s fortuna de la guerra (LLL V.ii.528), ‘the fortunes of war’.
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