Terrone
Terrone (Italian pronunciation: [terˈroːne]; plural terroni, feminine terrona)[lower-alpha 1] is a derogatory term of the Italian language to designate an inhabitant of Southern Italy.
The term comes from an agent noun formed from the word terra (Italian for "land"). In fact it was historically used, after the Italian unification, to describe the landlords of the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, highlighting the fact that they profited from a land property (the so-called latifondo) without working and until the 1950s it kept the meaning of "peasant", "person working the land". It was not until the Italian economic miracle, when a great number of Southerners migrated to the industrial centers of Northern Italy, that it began to be used (often as a slur) to indicate people from Southern Italy, who were mostly peasants back then. This epithet often designates negative personal characteristics, such as laziness and ignorance. Similarly, with particular reference to some slang, the term has taken on the meaning of an uncouth person lacking in good manners, like the word cafone.
In addition, the term is generally associated with certain somatic, phenotypical and physical traits, such as olive skin, short stature, high cheeks and other characteristics typical of the stereotype attached to Southern Italians.
See also
Notes
- ↑ In some Northern Italian languages:
- Piemontese: taron, feminine taron-a [taˈrʊŋ(a)]
- Ligurian: te(r)rón, feminine te(r)rónn-a [teˈɾuŋ(ˑa)]
- Lombard: te(r)ron [teˈrũː], feminine te(r)rònna [teˈrɔna], or terù, feminine terùna [teˈru(na)]
- Venetian: teron [teˈɾoŋ], feminine terona [teˈɾona]
Bibliography
- Russo Bullaro, Grace (2010). From Terrone to Extracomunitario: Shifting Demographics and Changing Images in a Multi-cultural Globalized Society. Leicester: Troubador Publishing. ISBN 9781848761766.