« A Bilingual Discussion on Semantics »

With one exam, one paper, and a few graduate school application aggravations remaining until I can leave California, I would like to take a break from Italianistica to address a personal problem with Garzanti Linguistica:

On 27 November 2006, I wrote in this journal about the entry negro that I found in the famous Garzanti online dictionary (whose praises I have often been known to sing). They defined the word by describing a race of people, whether we want to say black, African, or a “human group comprised of several subgroups”, with distinct physical traits: wide, smashed nose, woolen hair, etc.

I, Kristina Farah Bigdeli, an Italian-Iranian-American from “the South” who was exposed to racism and discrimination, moved to Los Angeles and subsequently became hypersensitive to racism. Then, I moved to a conservative European town that has a façade of intellectualism to become hyperaware of European shortcomings in the realm of race, gender, and ethnic equality. I, who am exactly that person with that history, reacted too quickly.

And now I think I may have made it worse.

According to word reference now and Garzanti before I asked them to change it. . .

the principal translation of negro IS DEFINITELY the N word;

and according to my friend Michele Longhini, “99.99% of the time, when the word is used in Italian, it is pejorative.”

Garzanti customer service allowed me my little victory when they replaced the “wide, smashed nose” with the “human group and subgroups”, but in the process, they took away the true meaning of the word. Yes, I will admit, the etymology listing still has the little three-letter abbreviation for pejorative (spr), but the principal definition is now the polite, anthropological adjective.

I feel like the next time little Giuseppino Junior or Alfonsina want to talk to the shy sixteen-year-old African immigrant in their second grade class (who happens to speak English better than Italian and is there to matriculate into professional soccer -Remember, I volunteered at an Italian middle school) they are going to check Garzanti. And Garzanti will tell them that it is okay to use the word.

I am confused, I think that I am still over-reacting, and I feel somewhat guilty. I am going to wait and ponder before I react too quickly like I did last time.

Also, I think I am prone to writing complex run-on sentences, so I am going to edit this again.

Comments

[Michele]

Here is the defitinion of the word given by Demauro-Paravia dictionary:

1 agg., s.m., che, chi appartiene alle diverse razze del ceppo negride, originarie del continente africano, caratterizzate da pelle scura, naso largo e schiacciato, capelli crespi, labbra pronunciate (il termine talvolta è avvertito o usato con valore spreg. e sostituito da nero): popolazioni negre, atleta, cantante n., la tratta dei negri | iperb., lavorare come un n., lavorare duramente, con riferimento alle condizioni di vita degli schiavi negri in America nei secoli scorsi
2 agg., relativo a tali popolazioni: cultura, musica negra, canti negri; quartiere n., nelle città occidentali spec. americane, quello abitato prevalentemente da persone di tali popolazioni

the translation is the following: ( Please forgive my english)
1 noun: "that belongs to the different races of negroid stock, coming from african continent, characterized by dark skin, large nose, cottony hair, big lips. (the term is sometimes perceived as negative and substituted by the word"black". Examples (choose the english ttranslation that fits you for the word negro): "negro" population, slavery of "negri", work like a "negro"(to say to work very hard) )"

2- adjective to explain concepts related to the populations described above: "negro" culture, "negro" music

The meaning of the word "negro" is not bad. The definition given is anthropological and has no negative connotation. It becomes negative when to the word is associated (explicitly or (implicitly a race ranking, meaning that black race is the lowest).
It is a matter of context.Since most of the conversations where the word "negro" is used are daily talks between common people and not anthropological conferences (especially here in the north of Italy, where racism is a fact, not only toward blacks, but also towards people from the south of Italy, est european and chinese.... everybody not coming from here really) most of the time it's used in a pejorative way. But it's not the word "per se" that has a bad meaning.
Last thing: I think there is a "mismatch mapping" between English and Italian and the words we use to talk about this concept. My understanding of English language is very poor so correct me if I am wrong:

- nigger : "negro" (pejorative sense)
- negroid : "nero" (anthropolocial sense)

of course words have an history and their meaning changes with time and this should be taken into account, but that would take the discussion too far.

By the way. good luck for all your stuff (exams, applications and so on) and forget I tend to put on as a teacher. One of my countless faults. Anyway, hope I helped.

Ciao

Michele

[Michele]

Errata (I am writing from work,so in a hurry):

- nigger : "negro" (pejorative sense)
- negroid : "negro" (anthropological sense)

(of course I was referring to the same Italian word. I am not an "auctoritas" anyway so do not trust me as if I was a dictionary)

Bye

Michele