Bibliography - Papers
Abbreviations
AAA = “Archivio per l’Alto Adige”, Florence;
AASV = “Atti dell’Accademia di Agricoltura Scienze e Lettere di Verona”;
CT = semiyearly review “Cimbri/Tzimbar”, Verona;
RIOn = semiyearly review “Rivista italiana di onomastica”, Rome;
TC = quarterly review “Terra cimbra”, Giazza (Verona);
VV = two-monthly review “Vita veronese”, Verona.
1. Cenni sui cognomi veronesi - in VV, from no. 3-4 of 1967 till no. 3-4 of 1972.
(Hints about the Veronese family names.) Etymological essay in alphabetical order of the main Veronese family names, it appeared in 37 issues of the review for a total of about 202 pages. About 5,500 surnames are here dealt with.
2. Nihon-go to Esukimô-go - in AASV 1971-72, pages 613-632.
The first essay in the whole world scientific literature in which the Japanese and Eskimo languages are brought back to a common language, with the reconstruction of the phonemes of the original Proto-Nippo-Eskimo language and their evolution in the two daughter-languages. For an oversight, in the course of the printing operations the original subtitle disappeared. It was the Italian translation of the paper Japanese title: Lingua giapponese e lingua eschimese (Japanese language and Eskimo language).
3. Sul rapporto tra indoeuropeo e nippoeschimese - in AASV 1974-75, pages 207-227.
(On the relationship between Indo-European and Nippo-Eskimo.) Here the relationship between Indo-European and Nippo-Eskimo (the language from which Japanese and Eskimo are derived) is envisaged. 48 groups of common roots are proposed.
4. Le radici nostratiche tipo “*bat-” « inizio; fine » e la monogenesi del linguaggio - in AASV 1981-82, pages 187-210 (First Part), and 1982-83, pages 261-290 (Second Part).
(The Nostratic roots of the type *bat- ‘beginning; end’ and language monogenesis.) Here the author claims, with the support of an enormous number of comparisons, that Nostratic had a root (with many variants) *bat- meaning ‘foot, to run; beginning, base, starting point; arrival point, end, measuring’. Further, this root appears in a number of world languages so high that it must have been one of the first words ever pronounced by mankind.
5. Il Catazzo “cimbro” e il mondo culturale tedesco del XVIII secolo - in TC no. 49-52, 1982 (a special issue of the review by Marcello Bondardo and G. Rapelli published with the title I piú antichi documenti di cimbro in un poeta montanaro veronese del XVIII secolo, Domenico Catazzo [= The oldest documents of Cimbrian in an XVIII-century Veronese mountain poet, Domenico Catazzo]), pages 23-42.
(The “Cimbrian” Catazzo and the German cultural world in XVIII century.) Here the repercussions of Catazzo’s little poem in the German world are outlined, together with a reconstruction of the places where Cimbrian was spoken around 1760 and a comment about the Cimbrian words the poem contains.
6. The Equivalents of the Japanese “y” in Eskimo - in AASV 1983-84, pages 285-315.
The author proposes, with the support of a number of comparisons, the relationship of the Japanese phoneme y with two Eskimo phonemes very different from each other. In initial position, to Japanese y- corresponds Eskimo q-, while in intervocalic position to Japanese -y- correspond Eskimo -s- (-ss-, -sh-) or -y- (-dy-). These phonetic laws are corroborated by repercussions in other Nostratic languages.
7. Sullo strano “impsindungh” attribuito al Catazzo - in TC no. 62, 1985, pages 18-24.
(On the odd impsindungh attributed to Catazzo.) Rapelli proves that the incomprehensible word impsindungh appearing in a little 1765 poem by Catazzo comes from the oversight of a contemporary German who read (or typeset) badly what the author wrote—we have to do actually with impfindung, meaning ‘visit’. The odd word deceived every scholar who dealt with it ever since.
8. Sul dizionario veronese-italiano di Gino Beltramini ed Elisabetta Donati - in “Civiltà veronese” no. 6, 1986, pages 95-135.
(On the Veronese-Italian dictionary by Gino Beltramini and Elisabetta Donati.) A collection of terms missing in Beltramini-Donati’s Piccolo dizionario veronese-italiano (1963), together with words whose meaning was incomplete or inexact—about 500 entries. In the introductory part (pages 95-97) there is a comment to the work of the two authors, regarded as scarcely scientific due both to the many mistakes and to the general inaccuracy.
“In drawing these notes I often recalled those persons with whom in the span of a lot of years I spoke in our common dialect, learning so many things. Before me defiled ideally men and women of different conditions and ages with whom I shared a chat, a drink, a trip, a game at cards, or material and spiritual difficulties, hopes, happy moments, disappointments. In the present notes those people live again, and as well live again their emotions, their humor, their good nature, their faults—in a word their world. May this be a homage also to them. Particularly, may this be a homage to the people who could hardly read and write—a humanity often wrongly regarded as lower. Even from these people I have learned a lot. By themselves, they would never have been able to leave a written record of our ancestral language. I am glad that this task becomes possible through me.”
(from Sul dizionario veronese-italiano di G. Beltramini ed E. Donati, page 97)
9. La storiografia “cimbra” veronese: analisi critica - “Atti del Convegno ‘700 anni di storia “cimbra” veronese’ tenuto a Tregnago il 14 novembre 1987” (= Transactions of the Panel on 700 Years of Veronese “Cimbrian” History held in Tregnago on Nov. 14, 1987), appeared in the special issue 66-67 of TC, 1987, pages 195-208.
(The Veronese “Cimbrian” historiography—a critical analysis.) This is the first essay ever written on the historiography of the XIII Communes. Among other things, Rapelli raises a criticism about Carlo Cipolla’s work of 1882 (Le popolazioni dei XIII Comuni Veronesi, in pages 200-202) for its too many printing mistakes.
10. Indizi sulla provenienza geografica dei Cimbri offerti dall’onomastica e dalla toponomastica - in AASV 1987-88, pages 309-334.
(Indications on the geographical provenance of the Cimbri offered both by onomatology and toponymy.) A paper intended to discover the geographical areas from which the Cimbri came. 53 Cimbrian names, surnames and place names are examined (divided in the three territories “Area of the XIII Communes”, “Gray area between the XIII and the Seven Communes [or Western province of Vicenza]”, “Trentino areas”). Rapelli concludes by agreeing on the whole with Kranzmayer, with the difference that for him the Alto Adige shoud have played a role more important than what generally thought, and that at least an indication points to provenance from the Pinzgau.
11. The Eskimo Morphology and the Genetic Relationship of Eskimo - in AASV 1988-89, pages 351-389.
A paper on the peculiar morphology of Eskimo and on what one can infer from it about the origin of this language. For Rapelli the classification of Eskimo in the Nostratic family is confirmed, and inside this linguistic group its most significant relations are with Japanese, and farther with Indo-European. On page 385 there is a map of the Nostratic languages according to the author.
12. Carteggio in lingua cimbra tra Francesco e Carlo Cipolla - in AASV 1990-91, pages 333-348.
(Letters in Cimbrian language between Francesco and Carlo Cipolla.) Ten letters or postcards that the two brothers wrote to each other in the years 1880-1883 are reproduced—nine by Francesco to Carlo and one by Carlo to Francesco. (Here are included the four postcards for which see § 30 of “Articoli” in the Italian-language section.) A philological and linguistic comment follows.
13. Alcune considerazioni sui Reti e sulla loro lingua - in AASV 1992-93, pages 433-469.
(Some observations on the Rhaetians and their language.) The most complete essay so far published on the language of the Rhaetians, with many observations on the formation of this people. For Rapelli it derives from the mixture of bands of Proto-Etruscans traveling over the Alpine valleys in search of minerals and metals and Euganean natives.
“In short, despite of the disheartening scarceness of Rhaetic documents I do not think one can escape the conclusion that many elements of both the Rhaetic language and the Rhaetic toponymy are connected to Etruscan. On the other hand, it is also true that as many elements, perhaps more, appear to have no relation with Etruscan. The picture that issues is typical of a mixed language, apparently subdivided in several kindred dialects. Such a language was born from the mixture of two or more languages, Proto-Etruscan and native tongues which we can temporarily label as ‘Euganean’.
The ethnical element introduced by the Villanovans who swarmed in the Adige valley from time to time starting from Felsina was not so numerous as to overwhelm the local populace, which on the other hand was almost as scattered as the invaders. Thus a gradual melting between Proto-Etruscan and Euganean took place, with possible contributions here and there of residues of Alpine tongues pre-existing to Euganeans or at all events non-Euganean. The melting should occur through a long span of time, at least three centuries, which preceded the proper Etruscan colonization of the end of the VI century. The Proto-Etruscans settled in the Adige valley, deprived of frequent contacts with the mother country and surrounded by a more numerous people, ended by absorbing essentially this people’s culture (pantheon, personal names, terms, parts of morphology, and so on). Hence derived the Roman remark about the barbarization of the Etruscans in the Adige valley.”
(from Alcune considerazioni sui Reti e sulla loro lingua, page 466)
14. La “f” veronese derivata da una fricativa interdentale - in AASV 1993-94, pages 143-154.
(The Veronese “f” derived from an interdental fricative.) This paper is intended to call the attention on an odd phonetic feature of the Veronese dialect, the alternation of the two sounds f and s (as in bifa ~ bissa ‘water snake, snake’) and its relationship with the interdental fricative th (typical for example of Lessinia).
15. La dissoluzione dell’identità cimbra - in CT no. 11, 1994 (special issue with the title “Cimbri Speciale”), pages 55-80.
(The dissolution of the Cimbrian identity.) A paper intended to outline the main stages of the absorption of the Cimbri (of all islands) by the neighboring inhabitants of Veneto and Trentino.
16. Appendice a “La dissoluzione dell’identità cimbra” - in CT no. 12, 1994, pages 131-133.
(Appendix to “The dissolution of the Cimbrian identity”.) New data on the conditions of the Cimbrian speech in the Folgaria plateau, at Recoaro and at Gallio which integrate what said in the essay § 15 above.
17. Tracce di un’alternanza “f/s” nell’etrusco e nel retico – in AASV 1996-97, pages 243-254.
(Traces of an alternation “f ~ s” in Etruscan and Rhaetic.) The author wants to demonstrate that some words in Etruscan and in Rhaetic appear to go back to a common root although having as initial an f or an s. The supposition is based on the possible relationship of terms like e.g. Rhaetic Fersina and Serso (two toponyms), Latin sors and fors, sorex and fur, sentina and fundus. The original phoneme was probably f. Latin is affected by this phonetic law for the many words which absorbed from Etruscan.
18. Veneto scaranto e latino grandis: comune origine etrusca? – in AASV 1999-2000, pages 295-307.
(Venetian scaranto and Latin grandis: a common Etruscan origin?) Here is proposed the probable common origin of terms like Venetian scaranto or caranto ‘big stone, rock’ and Latin grandis ‘big, great’ and glans ‘glans penis’ from an Etruscan word reconstructed as *crant ~ *clant and meaning ‘big thing, great rock’. The Etruscan word is surprisingly similar to Hittite halanta ‘head’—Rapelli notes (pages 305-307) that by now three words in Etruscan and Hittite are surely related, whatever conclusion one may infer from that.
19. Cenni sull’elemento etnico altoatesino nelle colonie cimbre - in AA. VV., Studi in memoria di Giulia Caterina Mastrelli Anzilotti (AAA, volumes XCIII-XCIV, 1999-2000), Florence 2001, pages 393-403.
(Hints on the ethnical elements from Alto Adige in the Cimbrian colonies.) 43 surnames of the Cimbrian islands finding a phonetic equivalent in names or surnames of Alto Adige are discussed here. The goal of this short essay is to demonstrate that many Cimbrian colonists came from that area, taking into account that two colonists called at Badia Calavena in 1333 are clearly indicated as qui fuit de Venoste ‘who was of Val Venosta (Vintschgau)’.
20. La lingua veneta e i suoi dialetti – in Veneti nel mondo 2001: Concorso Letterario Internazionale in Lingua Veneta “Mario Donadoni”, Comune di Bovolone, Bovolone (Verona) 2001, pages 7-12.
(The Venetian language and its dialects.) An essay on what means “Venetian language”. The position of Venetian among the Peninsula languages is given; then there are a list of the single Veneto dialects, a short exemplifying text in 4 versions (dialects of Venice, Rovigo, Verona, Feltre), a short history of the evolution from Latin to Venetian, the contribution given by Venetian to Italy’s official language, the Venetian borrowings in several languages along the Mediterranean Sea and beyond it, the layers of Venetian in the two Americas.
❖ La voce etrusca e retica *peruna « roccia, parete rocciosa, lastra di pietra » - in AASV 1997-98, pages 225-242: see above “Books”, § 12.
21. Pergine: una nuova ipotesi etimologica - in AAA, vol. XCVI, 2002, pages 153-157.
(Pergine—a new etymological interpretation.) Here the derivation of Pergine from an ancient Etruscan term *Perisne is given. Of unknown meaning, it can be reconstructed on the basis of a Rhaetic inscription from Settequerce/Siebeneich (where the probable ethnic first name perisnati appears).
22. Su alcuni toponimi problematici della Lessinia - in Lessinia: territorio e cultura, edited by Piero Piazzola e Giuseppe Rama, Curatorium Cimbricum Veronense, Verona 2002, pages 53-64.
(On some problematic toponyms of Lessinia.) Here the following toponyms are dealt with: Corno d’Aquilio (according to the author from the Veronese aguéjo ‘sting’), Monti Lessíni (of unclear meaning, probably from a Rhaetic or Euganean denomination), Frizzolana (from Latin forojuliana, probably with the meaning ‘belonging to Valfredo marquis of Friuli’), Calavézzo and Calavéna (from a Rhaetic term *kalàve ‘thorn’).
23. Intorno all’etimologia di “folenda” – in CT no. 30, 2003, pages 141-145.
(About the etymology of “folenda”.) A paper in which a new etymon for the Lessinia word folénda ‘flint stone’ is proposed. This word should come from the XVII-century German Flinte ‘gun with a flint-stone breech-block’, a word used in all likelihood in the meaning ‘flint stone’.
24. Sulla componente caucasica dell’etrusco – in AASV 2002-2003, pages 301-317.
(On the Caucasian component of Etruscan.) This paper finds its source in a 1988 essay written by the Russian linguists Vladimir Orel and Sergey Starostin in which they propose the derivation of Etruscan from East Caucasian on the ground of 59 comparisons. Rapelli disputes some of these comparisons, but agrees on the general idea of a derivation from the Caucasian bulk. He puts forth here a dozen Etruscan morphemes identical to morphemes of North Caucasian languages, one only of which appears in Orel-Starostin’s essay (the conjunction -c ‘and’). Among the former morphemes, a particular importance has the plural suffix -cva.
“Since the Tyrrhenians were likely to reside in the Troad, in my opinion they consisted at the moment of their departure of a people of mixed origin. Theirs should be one of the many little peoples settled along the western Anatolian coasts. According to the tradition handed down by Herodotus, the Tyrrhenians regarded themselves as Lydians—a tradition seen by many scholars as fanciful. Actually, Etruscan is surely something quite different from Lydian, although we know few the latter language—however, one neglected the fact that the belonging to Lydia could be of a merely political or administrative type. The Tyrrhenians should feel themselves subjects of the Lydian empire only because they had been enclosed in it, and not because they were a part of the proper Lydian ‘nation’. Analogously, the inhabitants of Corsica are regarded as Frenchmen, although they belong properly to the Italian nation, and the inhabitants of Vipiteno or Pulfero are commonly included among the Italians, although from an ethnical point of view they are mostly German-speaking or Slovenian-speaking.
The most ancient layer of the Tyrrhenians should consist of a Caucasian-type people, irradiated from the Caucasus area of Anatolia several millennia before Christ. Another people probably coming from the Balkan peninsula made itself master of it, and its language was of a proto-Indo-European type. This is a crucial point in the history of the Tyrrhenians. Indeed, the numerous contacts of their language with the Indo-European languages are not explainable, according to me, with common Indo-European as this is usually reconstructed. I think that the ethnical element akin to the Indo-Europeans which we notice in the Tyrrhenians belonged to a wave preceding the Indo-European dispersion—a dispersion which may be fixed to the span of time from 2300 to 2000 BC. In other words, the Indo-Europeans were but the last of a series of waves of peoples severed from the same ethnical phylum, to be localized probably in the Ukrainian plains.”
(from Sulla componente caucasica dell’etrusco, pages 312-313)
25. Intorno all’etimo di Fursíl – in “Corona Alpium” II (Miscellanea di studi in onore di Carlo Alberto Mastrelli), Istituto di studi per l’Alto Adige, Florence 2003, pages 441-447.
(About the etymon of Fursíl.) The mountain name Fursíl near Livinallongo has been derived from a non-documented Paleo-Venetian word *fersu meaning ‘iron’. The present essay proposes the same etymon with more details, but assigning the reconstructed word to the Rhaetic substratum.
26. Sull’etimologia di Oppeano e del Monte Loffa – in AAA, volumes XCVII-XCVIII, 2003-2004, pages 571-577.
(On the etymology of Oppeano and of Mount Loffa.) At the basis of the two Veronese place names and of the Bergamese village Leffe a Rhaetic word documented as inlaupet (with some variants) is proposed. Actually, the three toponyms had all originally a diphthong—Eupedanum, Leupha, Leufo.
27. L’influsso del dialetto veronese sul cimbro dei XIII Comuni – in CT 33, 2005, pages 51-62.
(The influence of the Veronese dialect on XIII-Communes Cimbrian.) An essay presented in the panel (cared for by UNESCO) “The Cimbri and a territory to be saved - Verona, Febr. 27-28, 2004”. Here many instances are given of how much XIII-Communes Cimbrian is permeated of Veronese words and syntactical forms.
28. Valpantena presso Verona, toponimo retico – in AAA, volume XCIX-C, 2005-2006, pages 331-335.
(Valpantena near Verona, a Rhaetic place name.) Here the author proposes the derivation of Panténa from a Rhaetic person name *Palténa, which in turn came from an Etruscan word probably meaning ‘with large shoulders’. The Etruscan word should belong to the same root of Latin balteus (itself a word of Etruscan origin), a root which for the author finds a sure relationship in Hittite.
29. Per una rivisitazione della toponomastica pre-romana del Veronese – “Atti del XXII Congresso Internazionale di Scienze Onomastiche, Pisa 28 agosto - 4 settembre 2005” (= Transactions of the XXII International Congress of Onomastic Sciences held in Pisa on Aug. 28 - Sept. 4, 2005”) volume I, Edizioni ETS, Pisa 2007 (transactions published in “Nominatio - Collana di Studi Onomastici fondata da Maria Giovanna Arcamone”), pages 765-780.
(For a reconsideration of the pre-Roman toponymy of the Veronese province.) Here a new point of view on the pre-Roman toponymy of the Veronese territory is proposed. The author offers new etymologies and new pre-Roman place names, aiming to demonstrate that the Rhaetic substratum was more important than what so far thought.
“I wish to propose here a sort of ‘new vision’ of the Veronese toponymy, based on the hypothesis that the Rhaetic element was in the Veronese area more important than what formerly thought. On the other hand, one knew that as many as four Roman writers dealt with the Veronese wines defining them ‘Rhaetic wines’, that in the Veronese area at least 15 Rhaetic inscriptions were found (although they are mostly very short texts), and that an inscription found in Valpolicella mentions a pontifex sacrorum Raeticorum—a priest who perhaps was outstanding not only in the Valpolicella pagus, but also in the not faraway town of Verona. If the attributions to the Rhaetians which I propose will prove correct, we will have to conclude that the proto-Etruscan colonization has affected a really considerable area of the Veronese territory (bearing in mind that in the first millennium B.C. most Veronese lowland was depopulated, as it was marshy or barren). In this context, Oppeano and the river name Tartaro arise a peculiar interest. If one could ascertain that here we have two Rhaetic place names, we would see in them the southernest attestations in Italy of the presence of the Rhaetians.”
(from Per una rivisitazione della toponomastica pre-romana nel Veronese, pages 778-779)
30. La caduta nell’etrusco dell’aspirata iniziale “ch” davanti a “l” - in AASV 2005-2007, pages 343-351.
(The drop of the initial aspirate “ch” before “l” in Etruscan.) A paper presented on June 5, 2007. Here the author proposes the occasional drop of the Etruscan aspirate ch before the liquids l and r. This feature allows the author to derive Roma from an Etruscan *chruma ‘turgidity, swelling = breast of animals’ (with reference to Palatine hill), a word also linked to Latin grumus ‘hillock, height’. (The new etymology of Roma reappeared in the § 65 of the “Articles” section.) This phonetic law allows us to explain several words and place names of the world that was once Etruscan.
31. La storia di Verona – series of numbers for the University of Third Age and of Permanent Education of Verona, foreseen for the courses 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011.
(The history of Verona.) These numbers were never issued by a publisher, and they were distributed to the members of the course “History of Verona”. They consisted of typewritten texts often furnished with maps and pictures of both monuments and palaces, totaling 135 pages. Initially they were distributed to the members of the Universities of Third Age of Villafranca Veronese (since 1988 through 1996) and of Valeggio sul Mincio (since 1996 through 2005).
The numbers concern the following subjects: 1) Verona before the Romans; 2) Verona under the Romans; 3) The arrival and the spread of Christianity; 4) The barbarian invasions; 5) The Thousand A.D.; 6) The relation of Verona with the Empire; 7) The birth of the Commune; 8) The Crusades - The foundation of Villafranca and of the Palù; 9) The Della Scala’s age; 10) The Veronese mintage - The arrival of the Cimbri and their spread; 11) The Visconti’s age - The Carrara's age - The “Submission” to Venice; 12) The Quattrocento; 13) The Empire’s domination, 1509-1516 - New Venetian fortifications; 14) The Cinquecento; 15) The XVII century; 16) The XVIII century; 17) The repercussions of the French Revolution - Napoleon; 18) The Austrian domination; 19) The Risorgimento; 20) The first 25 years after the union with Italy - Economic crisis and emigration; 21) End of the XIX century - Beginning of the XX century; 22) The period of the “Great War”; 23) From the World War I to the World War II; 24) The World War II and the Reconstruction.
32. L’etimologia del latino “amare” - in “Senecio”, since January 2, 2010.
(The etymology of Latin amare.) The etymology of Latin amare together with its kindred terms is found in an Etruscan root which is not documented, but is likely to have existed, as the Hittite ham-enk ‘to tie, to unite’ confirms. A certain number of Etruscan words may be connected, for the author with no doubt, to Hittite, in which the initial h is rare and appears to be derived from a late addition. The original Hittite root, hence, was *am-, and from the idea of to unite the shift to that of to love is easy.
33. Note sulla slavizzazione dell’Istria e della Dalmazia – in “Atti del Centro di Ricerche Storiche di Rovigno” XLII, Rovigno-Trieste 2012, pages 51-69.
(Remarks about the Slavization of both Istria and Dalmatia.) The author sees a similarity between the Slavization of the Neo-Latin population of Istria, Liburnia, and Dalmatia and the Germanization of the Neo-Latin population which in the Early Middle Ages inhabited the present Alto Adige region. The author claims that the place name Fiume, the Liburnian Flum, precedes the Croatian form Rijeka, and that the place names containing the consonant f must only be Neo-Latin. Some samples of Dalmatian language are reported as a proof that up to the late 14th century the influence of the Venetian tongue was not yet noticeable.
34. Appunti etimologici sul toponimo Zadar – in “Atti del Centro di Ricerche Storiche di Rovigno” XLIII, Rovigno-Trieste 2013, pp. 483-493.
(Etymological remarks about the place name Zadar.) This essay proposes the birth of the Croatian place name Zadar (= Italian Zara) in the decades following the year 1409, that is after the seizure of the town by the Venetians. Zara was called Jadera by the Liburni that inhabited it before the conquest by the Romans. Therefore, if it would have been familiar to the Croatians already in the first centuries of their arrival in the Balkan area it would have been called *Jadar, and not Zadar.
