Nel VI secolo (1500), il re di Polonia Sigismondo I sposò una donna italiana, Bona Sforza d'Aragona, che tra l'altro fu colei che diffuse la cultura rinascimentale in Polonia. Quest'ultima aveva dei servi italiani, i quali portavano tutti i capelli lunghi. Da allora gli italiani vennero chiamati "Włoski", ovvero "popolo dai capelli lunghi", e l'Italia "Włochy", ovvero "paese dei capelloni". Sì, è molto divertente!
Certamente non si sa se questa versione dei fatti sia veritiera, in quanto esistono varie ipotesi riguardo all'origine di questa parola.
Particolare è anche l'origine della parola "Niemcy", con la quale i polacchi chiamano la Germania. "Niemcy" significa letteralmente "coloro che non parlano la nostra lingua", dato che quando i polacchi conobbero per la prima volta i tedeschi trovarono la lingua di questi ultimi del tutto incomprensibile.
Trovo che queste curiosità siano molto interessanti e per questo ho voluto scrivere questo post.
Alla prossima, cześć!
Polish people call Italy "Włochy" and Italians "Włoski". I was wondering why, as the etimology is totally different from the "Italy"'s one. So I asked two Polish guys and then I had a look on Wikipedia.
In VI century, Polish king married an Italian woman, who spread Renaissance culture in Poland. She had Italian servants and all of them had long hair. Since then Italians were called "Włoski", that is "long hair people", and Italy "Włochy", that is "long hair people's country". Yeah, it's really funny!
Of course, we don't know if this version of facts is true, since there are many hypothesis about the origin of this word.
Also original is the origin of the word "Niemcy", with which Polish people call Germany. "Niemcy" literally means "those who can't speak our language", since when Polish met Germans for the first time, they found their language totally incomprehensible.
I find these curiosities very interesting and that's why I wanted to write this post.
Sooo...cześć!
Polish people call Italy "Włochy" and Italians "Włoski". I was wondering why, as the etimology is totally different from the "Italy"'s one. So I asked two Polish guys and then I had a look on Wikipedia.
In VI century, Polish king married an Italian woman, who spread Renaissance culture in Poland. She had Italian servants and all of them had long hair. Since then Italians were called "Włoski", that is "long hair people", and Italy "Włochy", that is "long hair people's country". Yeah, it's really funny!
Of course, we don't know if this version of facts is true, since there are many hypothesis about the origin of this word.
Also original is the origin of the word "Niemcy", with which Polish people call Germany. "Niemcy" literally means "those who can't speak our language", since when Polish met Germans for the first time, they found their language totally incomprehensible.
I find these curiosities very interesting and that's why I wanted to write this post.
Sooo...cześć!
