melanzana
Italian edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Arabic بَاذِنْجَان (bāḏinjān), from now archaic Persian بادنگان (bâdengân), from Sanskrit भण्डाकी (bhaṇḍākī) or वातिगगम (vātigagama, “eggplant, aubergine”), reshaped under the influence of mela (“apple”). Compare Greek μελιτζάνα (melitzána), Sicilian milinciana and Medieval Latin mēlongēna.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
melanzana f (plural melanzane)
- aubergine (UK); eggplant (US)
- (US, Italian-American slang) dummy (as though “eggplant-head”)
- Synonym: (Central Italy, rare) petonciano
Descendants edit
- → Byzantine Greek: μελιτζάνα (melitzána)
- Greek: μελιτζάνα (melitzána)
- → Austrian German: Melanzani
- → Greek: μελιτζάνα (melitzána)
- → Macedonian: малиџано (malidžano)
- → English: malidzano
- → Serbo-Croatian:
- → Slovene: melancána
- → Tigrinya: መለንዛና (mälänzana)
Further reading edit
- melanzana on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia it