nannu

Maltese

Etymology

Borrowed from Sicilian nannu.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈnan.nu/

Noun

nannu m (plural nanniet or nannujiet or nannijiet, feminine nanna)

  1. grandfather
    Synonym: ġidd
  2. Used to show respect when addressing old men.
    Alternative form: nann

Inflection
    Inflected forms
Personal-pronoun-
including forms		 singular plural
m f
1st person nannuwi nannuna
2nd person nannuk nannukom
3rd person nannuh nannuha nannuhom

Sicilian
Peppe Nappa, a float of the Sciacca Carnival, lit up at the end of the holiday, like a nannu (sense 2) would have been.

Etymology

Compare Italian nonno.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

nannu m (plural nanni, feminine nanna)

  1. grandfather
    jiri comu li ganghi di me nannu ― to shake, to be unstable (literally, “to be like my grandfather's teeth”)
    li cartuleggi di so nannu ― past things (literally, “one's grandfather's old papers”)
    Chi ura di chiànciri a me nannu!
    (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    Cu voli a so nannu si lu preja.
    (please add an English translation of this usage example)
    Si me nannu nun fussi mortu, ancora sarrìa vivu.
    (please add an English translation of this usage example)
  2. Local folkloric figure personification of Carnival, a dummy resembling a devil that is lit up at the end of the festivities.
    nannu (di) Carnilivari
    mòriri lu nannu ― to burn the nannu
  3. (colloquial) Term to address old men. grandpa, gramps

Descendants
  • → Maltese: nannu

References
  • Traina, Antonino (1868) “nannu”, in Nuovo vocabolario Siciliano-Italiano [New Sicilian-Italian vocabulary] (in Italian), Liber Liber, published 2020, pages 2643–2644
  • Pasqualino (c. 1790) “nannu”, in Vocabolario siciliano etimologico, italiano e latino (in Italian), volume 3, page 241
  • Mortillaro, Vincenzo (1862) “nànnu”, in Nuovo vocabolario siciliano-italiano (in Italian), page 562
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