maravigghia

Sicilian

Etymology

From Spanish maravilla. Ultimately from Latin mirabilia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maɾaˈviɡːja/, /maɾaˈviɟːa/
• Hyphenation: ma‧ra‧vìg‧ghia

Noun

maravigghia f (plural maravigghi)

1. (mainly in bad sense) amazement, astonishment, surprise
2. (merely descriptive, non derogatory) weird thing or person; freak of nature
3. (derogatory, by extension) dumb, asshole

   Synonyms: babbaleccu, carduni, minchia, minchiuni, sinapuni

   Si' nu maravigghia.

   You are an asshole.

Usage notes

• The word meravigghia, spread in recent times through commercial advertisement, is a word not deriving from the Sicilian lexicon, but is a calque, previously non-existent, derived from the Italian equivalent meraviglia. The realization of this word, however, does not fit either the Sicilian phonetics (the expected one should be more properly miravigghia) or the semantics of the original word of this lemma which does not have a "positive sense" in every day speech.

Derived terms

• maravigghiari
• maravigghiatu
• maravigghiusa
• maravigghiusu

 

Related terms

• senza jabbu e senza maravigghia

 

See also

• gabbu
• jabbu
• scantatu
• scantu
• scantàrisi