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Italian word of the day: ‘Perbacco’

By Jove! This exclamation is irresistible.

Published: 8 May 2019 18:32 CEST

Italian word of the day: 'Perbacco'

Today's word is another request: perbacco, or as our reader Dino wrote in his email, “Perbacco!”

The exclamation mark is practically obligatory, since perbacco(!) is indeed an exclamation, and a great one at that (it's a category Italian excels in: see also mannaggia, accipicchia, accidenti, caspita, ammazza… The list really does go on).

I'll translate this one as 'by Jove', since like that English phrase, it's a somewhat quaint way to express your surprise, delight or irritation by invoking a Roman god.

While Anglophones go for the king of the gods, Italians on the other hand turn to… the god of wine. Perbacco is a contraction of 'per Bacco', or 'by Bacchus', the same god of grapes and drinking that you'll recognize in this well-known painting by Caravaggio. (It's kept in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, if you want to see it in person.)

Using perbacco is extremely easy: you just exclaim it any time you're mildly perturbed, be it for reasons good or bad.

Perbacco, che fortuna!
Gosh, what luck!

Silenzio, perbacco!
Be quiet, for heavens' sake!

And it's fully family-friendly, so you can use it in front of anyone from your kids to your in-laws to your nonne without fear of giving offence.

If you want to take perbacco to the next level, you can even add the intensifying suffixes ~one ('big') or ~issimo ('very') to give these exaggerated examples listed by the dictionary: per Bacco baccone or per Bacco bacchissimo! Now those deserve at least five exclamation marks.

Do you have a favourite Italian word you'd like us to feature? If so, please email our editor Jessica Phelan with your suggestion.

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Italian expression of the day: ‘Al volo’

If you’ve ever found yourself at an Italian airport and looked up at the departure board, there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with the word volo, which is the Italian equivalent of ‘flight’ – but also the first person singular of the verb volare (to fly) in the present tense.

And if you’re a fan of classical music, you may of course have heard of Italy’s famous opera trio Il Volo (‘The Flight’).

But what do Italians mean when they say they’re going to do something al volo (hear it pronounced here)?

Much like its closest English equivalent, ‘on the fly’, al volo has very little to do with aircraft or flying as it’s one of the most common Italian phrases to say that you’re doing something ‘quickly’ or ‘readily’, often without having prepared it or thought about it much beforehand.

Facciamoci una pasta al volo e poi usciamo.

Let’s cook some pasta on the fly and then get out.

Ho dovuto preparare la presentazione al volo perché non mi avevano avvisato della riunione.

I had to put the presentation together on the fly as I’d not been notified of the meeting.

But usage of al volo is not limited to practical actions or tasks you may do quickly and without much thought.

In fact, you can also pair it with the verb capire (understand), comprendere (comprehend) or imparare (learn) to say that you grasped something ‘immediately’ or ‘in no time’, meaning you won’t need any further explanation.

Tuo figlio capisce tutto al volo. Ha un grande futuro davanti a lui, a mio parere.

Your son understands everything in no time. He’s got a great future ahead of him, in my opinion.

And if you haven’t fully understood or grasped something on your first try (which is painfully likely when dealing with Italy’s infamous red tape, even for locals), don’t worry: you’ll always have the option to ask a domanda al volo, or a ‘quick question’, to clear up your doubts.

Another popular way to use the phrase is in relation to big opportunities, whether that be in life, in education or at work. So an opportunity that va presa al volo must be seized immediately as it’s too good to be missed.

Finally, if you’re planning on watching Euro 2024 matches on Italian TV over the next month, you may hear football commentators use al volo multiple times while analysing a match as colpire la palla al volo means to strike it while it’s in the air, or ‘volley’ it.

Do you have a favourite Italian word you’d like us to feature? If so, please email us with your suggestion.

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