Piano piano
-
A common term used here in Sardinia. The word piano has several meanings but mostly to mean softly, slow down, enjoy the moment for what it is. But here is a condensed list of what the word can mean…….
In Italian, the word “piano” has multiple meanings depending on context: it can mean “slowly/softly” (Parla più piano), “flat/level” (una strada piana), “floor/storey of a building” (terzo piano), “plan or project” (un piano di lavoro), “level or perspective” (sul piano economico), “plain/flatland” in geography (il piano), “plane” in geometry (piano cartesiano), “foreground/close‑up” in film and photography (primo piano), and as an interjection it means “easy!” or “careful!” (Piano!). It also refers to the musical instrument, the piano.
This is an incredible video showing the stark truth of the pianoforte industry.
Link to video -
Interesting semantic divergence. Most of those usages correspond to the Spanish (and Portuguese) ’plano’ though that word has no sense of ‘soft’ or ‘quiet’ as used in fortepiano. For that in Spanish you would use ‘suave’ or ‘despacio’. The word for the instrument in Spanish (and Portuguese) is piano.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login