Let’s leave pizza aside. Have you been wondering what is the connection between Argentina Spanish and Italian? Let me try to shed some light on the matter.
Italian immigrants
Starting in the 1880s and until the 1920s, Argentina received a massive immigration wave from European countries, namely Spain and Italy. The latter brought over their own dialects. Among the Italian varieties, Genovese is thought to have had the greatest influence on Porteño Spanish.
Let’s stop here for a minute and answer the initial question. Argentinian Spanish and Italian are both Romance languages, which means that they both evolved from Latin. However, they are distinct languages with their own unique grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. They are not mutually intelligible, meaning that speakers of one language would not be able to understand speakers of the other language without prior knowledge or study.
Italian influence on AR Spanish
The influence of Italian in Argentinian Spanish, however, is undeniable. Most people who know Italian but don’t know Spanish would feel that ‘Argentines are Italians who speak Spanish’. The prosody of Italian is evident in our language. There are similarities in the pronunciation of some words and phrases between the two languages, particularly in the intonation and stress patterns. This can make them sound similar to foreign ears.
The cultural similarities between Italy and Argentina, such as the love for music, dance, soccer and food, can also contribute to the perception of similarity between the two languages.
Due to its large Italian diaspora, there are many words borrowed from Italian into the Argentinian Spanish. Today, Italianisms permeate everyday language. In fact, LUNFARDO (Argentinian slang) has been influenced and modeled by Italian more than by any other language.
Let’s take a look at the following list of loanwords from Italian to Argentinian Spanish:
LABURO | LABURAR – work – to work
Y, ¿cómo viene el laburo?
Mi viejo empezó a laburar a los 15 años.
PIBE/PIBA – boy/girl
Alejo es un pibe raro.
MORFAR – to eat
Che, ¿morfamos algo?
FANGOTE – a great amount of something
Un fangote de guita.
FESTICHOLA – party
El sábado se armó una festichola bárbara en la casa de mi vecino.
MATINA – the morning
Estoy fusilado. Hoy me tuve que levantar a las 6 de la matina y no paré en todo el día.
CUALUNQUE – of no particular merit
Me compré una silla de escritorio medio cualunque, y ya me estoy arrepintiendo.
FALOPA – drug
Hoy en día hay mucha falopa en la calle.
FACHA | FACHERO – good look | handsome
¡Qué facha tenés con esos anteojos, che!
FIACA – lazyness
Tengo una fiaca hoy…
BIRRA – beer
¿Nos tomamos una birra?
ESCABIO | ESCABIAR – an alcoholic drink | drink an alcoholic drink
Luis le da bastante al escabio.
Pará de escabiar que te vas a dar vuelta, amigo.
CAPO – very skilled | also used to address an unknown man in the street.
Martín es un capo con los números.
Capo, ¿me decís la hora?
CHANTA – an untrustworthy person
No le creas nada de lo que te dice, Mario es un chanta.
SALAME – a foolish person. We usually use this word to avoid using BOLUDO.
¡Qué salame! Me olvidé la billetera en mi casa.
MUFA – bad luck or bad mood
Me parece que Ramiro es medio mufa.
¡No te mufes, che, era un chiste!
CHICATO – short-sighted
Como soy bastante chicato, sin anteojos no leo nada.
GAMBA – the leg. Meter la gamba means to make a mistake.
Sí, ya sé, metí la gamba. Perdón.
MINA – woman
Miriam es una mina muy trabajadora.
While I researched for this post, I learnt that words like chicato, chanta and escabio were of Italian origins. Languages are marvelous creatures, indeed.
I recommend you take a look at this article, too. It discusses other aspects of our cultures that merged over the years.
Hope this helped!
Happy Spanish learning,
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