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.
Neapolitan Dialect Of The World 