Italian loanwords in Dutch

The Dutch language contains many words that come from Italian. There are countless examples of Italian loanwords in different categories.

art and music

For example, think of words from the music world, such as:

• a capella
• opera
• queue
• staccato

But also words that have to do with art, for example:

• piano
• fresh
• terracotta
• reply

To eat!

Of course, the food and drink category contains a large amount of Italian loanwords, importing not only the words, but also the products:

• Team Building
• pasta
• Lasagna
• mozzarella cheese
• mortadella
• Tiramisu (which literally means 'pull me up' by the way)

And also all kinds of coffee such as cappuccino, All espresso brewing methods en latte macchiato are on the menu at every lunch cafe or restaurant. Yes, we have a lot of Italian loanwords related to food.

Money does not buy happiness

Many words related to banking have also ended up in Dutch. In the Golden Age and beyond, many Italian immigrants came to Amsterdam, the world's largest trading city at the time, and took Italian trade jargon with them.

The next concepts were included in the Dutch language at that time:

• nett
• stupid
• balance
• Built-in

Although it seems at first sight to be a completely Dutch word, 'bankrupt' is also a loan word from Italian.

It comes from bank rotta, which literally means 'broken bank'. The bank, by which the money changer's table was meant, was smashed to pieces in a bankruptcy.

Cappuccinos and paninis

Most Italian loanwords have been integrated into the Dutch language in such a way that we also use the Dutch plural forms, such as 'cappuccino's'.

Sometimes this results in the word taking on a double plural form. For example, we say 'paninis', while ending with 'i' in Italian indicates that it concerns several sandwiches.

Do you know any more? And which Italian loanword is your favorite? Let us know by commenting below!