Familiarity – Neapolitan Dialect Of The World

Nacchennella from French ‘N’a qu’un oeil

Sometimes words replace images, becoming the phonetic representation of a symbol.

There are many words of the Neapolitan dialect that are expressed in a symbolic way. Words that you can see as you hear them, that evoke imaginative figures.

The onomatopoeia of these words is so representative that it stimulates the attention of the listeners.

One of these symbolic words is Nacchennella. The origin of the etymology of nacchennella is found both in a French phrase and in a Neapolitan expression.

It is therefore a sort of fusion of the two ways of saying that has made the meaning of this word stronger.

In French the ‘N’a qu’un oeil it is that person who belongs to high society, a nobleman we could say, who used the monocle, that is the single-lens glasses. The use of this type of glasses is related to a lifestyle, a real fashion. It was in fact a type of glasses not necessary for the eyes, but only suitable on certain occasions. In short, they were an accessory, an object that completed the snobbish gestures of some members of society. Obviously, single-lens glasses were not only used in France, they were also fashionable in other European salons and also appeared on the streets of Naples.

Nacchennella it also comes from a Neapolitan word. The buttocks, in Neapolitan language, are called nacche. A word that is above all an image. With the nacche, in fact, it is possible to paddle, walking with a waving gait that, in excessive cases, could become the object of derision. The Nacchennela, therefore, in Naples is not only a character of high society but is also the one who acts as if he belonged to high society.

Pretending to be a snob, in fact, can lead to derision. In this case, the irony of the Neapolitan language affects those people, above all men who behave as if they were socially superior to others, acting as snobs. The nacchennella by origin are people of high society, but the nacchennella by emulation are comparable to strange people, whose gestures become funny.

A male nacchennella, in fact, is made fun of just for how he dresses, for how he walks and talks, for how he sways with his hips. And this becomes a funny thing in Naples. One should not think, however, that this can be a topic of homophobia, on the contrary, it is a Neapolitan expression that goes precisely against homophobia.

Here we can understand how, in his irony, the Neapolitan language is also very sarcastic, punitive and cutting.

In a scene from the second season of the tv series L’Amica Geniale (My Brilliant Friend) the protagonist Lila, a girl who belongs to the poor and peripheral neighborhoods of Naples, is invited at a house party of people who live in a high-class neighborhood of the city. Lila feels isolated all the night and the anger grows in her for having been almost ignored by those people. During the party the girl suffers from this condition, realizing that due to some social elements that she misses, she risks being excluded from the most cultured environments of the city of Naples. Full of anger and contempt, she returns home and during the car trip she vents with her husband. Lila, in fact, says: “I have never been bored so much since I was born. It was better if we went to the cinema tonight. It was also better to watch television than to be with those nacchennella (In English it is translated with snobs) “. The verbal power of the word nacchennella, full of indignation and anger towards those people, is associated with the facial expression of the actress who shows excessive annoyance and contempt for the way those people have treated her.

*A scene from My Brilliant Friend that express one of the meaning for the word nacchennella.*

There are words of the Neapolitan language that should never be translated. Sometimes it seems necessary to learn Neapolitan in order to better understand the meaning of things.

It is really reductive to lose the chance to understand the expressive power of some words of the Neapolitan. They can become sometimes an investigative, judgmental and demonizing linguistic form.

A Court that first condemns, then acquits and finally derides you.

A Puteca from Latin Apotheca

Any child raised in Naples has heard this phrase at least once: “Piccerillo, vai n’attimo ‘a puteca e accatta nu piezzo e pane” (honey, go to the grocery and buy a piece of bread).

The piccerillo involved is almost always unaware of what a puteca is and why it is possible to buy bread right there. In the Neapolitan language ‘a puteca is a shop where you can buy basic necessities. You can often find it near your house and buy what you need cheaply.

It may happen that among relatives and friends this word is pronounced to identify different places where you can shop. For example, my second-class uncles (zio Vincenzo and zia Maria) used to have a shop where they sold detergents and soaps. And throughout the neighborhood where they worked (the Borgo Vergini neighborhood), their shop was known as ‘a puteca.

This word therefore has different values and meanings according to the place and the importance it occupies. I remember, in fact, that my uncles’ detergent shop was very very small. The intimacy of that place made it magical and welcoming, so as to earn the name of ‘a puteca.

We have already said in the previous articles that the Neapolitan language is able to accept words of other languages and to transform the meaning of these words and adapt them to the style of Neapolitan culture. Puteca (in Neapolitan) comes from the Latin word apotheca, which in ancient Rome was used to indicate the shop. Puteca also has origins in the Greek word ἀποθήκη (apothéke) which always means shop. But how did this word take root in the other European languages deriving from the Latin strain? In France, for example, it has become the word boutique while in Germany we find that apotheke is used to indicate a pharmacy.

Could some tourist or foreigners in Naples get confused? Actually not. The presence of the puteca sign outside the shops of the Neapolitan city is really rare.

‘A puteca is an intimate name, recognizable only among the Neapolitan population, which indicates a shop where there is often not even a sign. In Naples, in fact, you just have to say “Sto andando alla puteca di Tonino” (I’m going to Tonino’s shop) to make others understand where you are going. Be careful, though! A person can say that is going to the puteca of a certain person only if it moves in the same neighborhood. For example, if I live in the Sanità district and say that I am going to Gennaro’s puteca, whoever listens to me knows that I am going to Gennaro’s shop who works in the Sanità. But if I say that I’m going to the puteca of a Gennaro who does not have a shop in the Sanità but, for example, in the Fuorigrotta district, I must specify that I am going to the puteca of Gennaro but the one located in the Fuorigrotta district.

Walking through the alleys of Naples it is still possible to find some puteca. These are those shops that are always open, small and dark, where goods abound and overflow from the walls. Often merchants display what they sell even at the entrance of the shop, amassing objects on the sidewalk. We are talking about almost mythological places, rich in history and memories that make Naples a unique place in the world.