Reference Centre, Dictionnaires
Dictionary of Italian Words and Phrases
This list contains Italian words with their English translations. The words included here are those that one is are likely to find in a genealogical or historical document or record. If the word you are looking for is not on this list, please consult an Italian-English dictionary.
Italian is a Romance language derived from Latin and, consequently, many Italian words resemble and carry similar meanings to those of Latin. See Latin Terms. Italian emerged as a separate language from vernacular Latin about 1000 C.E. (A.D.).
Italian is spoken throughout Italy. Although several minor dialects can be heard in various provinces Sicilian, Neapolitan, Romanesque, and Venetian are the major dialects of Italian. Italian is also spoken in the cantons of Ticino and Graubünden in southern Switzerland and in Yugoslavia near the border with Trieste. Some of the records of Corsica, Nice, and Savoy were written in Italian before those areas became part of France.
Over the years, the English language has grown to incorporate some Italian words, including: balcony, carnival, cash, laundry, opera, piano, pilot, stucco, umbrella and volcano.