Council for Ligurian Linguistic Heritage

Ligurian Council

DEIZE

Italian-Ligurian (Genoese) dictionary

cinese

adj.
  1. della Cina

    cineise [tʃiˈnejze]1,2

    ci sarà una mostra di arte cinese al museo

    ghe saià unna mostra d’arte cineise a-o museo

m. n. f. n.
  1. nativo o abitante della Cina

    cineise [tʃiˈnejze]1,2

    al mercato ho chiacchierato con un cinese molto gentile

    in sciô mercou ò fæto doe ciarle con un cineise ben ben corteise

m. n.
  1. mandarino, lingua cinese standard; famiglia di lingue sino-tibetane

    cineise [tʃiˈnejze]1,2

    il cinese è considerato una lingua molto difficile da imparare

    o cineise o l’é consciderou unna lengua assæ diffiçile da imprende

  2. figurato: lingua incomprensibile

    tedesco [teˈdesku] (var. todesco)

    parlo forse cinese?

    parlo miga tedesco?

Learn more

1. Plurals of terms in -eise, -aise and -ase/-aso

Terms in -eise form the plural in -eixi: zeneise “Genoese” > zeneixi. Terms in -aise form the plural in -aixi: paise “country” > paixi. Terms in -ase and those in -aso form the plural in -axi: ase “donkey” > axi; naso “nose” > naxi.

2. Pronunciation and spelling of the intervocalic -s-

In general, in Genoese the -s- between vowels is pronounced as voiced s, -[z]-, in accordance with etymology and with the convention adopted in all Romance languages that possess this sound, as in reusa [ˈrøːza] (Italian, Catalan and Portuguese “rosa”, French “rose”), casa [ˈkaːza] (Italian, Catalan and Portuguese “casa”) and sposâ [spuˈzaː] (Italian “sposare”, Catalan “esposar”, French “épouser”). For certain words, chiefly owing to the lack of definitive standardisation in the writing of Genoese, contrasting spellings have historically spread and still coexist in which this sound is represented by -z-, as in zeneize [zeˈnejze] “Genoese”, creuza [ˈkrøːza] “narrow lane between two walls” and cazann-a/cazaña [kaˈzaŋˑa] “customer”. In this dictionary, in accordance with the rules of written Genoese adopted in many other contexts, such terms are spelled according to the parameters of the general rule stated above (i.e. zeneise, creusa, casaña). Spellings of the type zeneize, moreover, would also justify eccentric forms such as caza [ˈkaːza] “house” or nazo [ˈnaːzu] “nose”, which must instead be written casa, naso. Before a long vowel marked with a colon, however, the -s- is pronounced voiceless, -[s]-, as in Italian sole: cäsiggion [kaːsiˈdʒuŋ] “mushroom stem”, cösa [ˈkɔːsa] “thing”, fäso [ˈfaːsu] “false, fake”, pösâ [pɔˈsaː] “to lay, to place”. The only exceptions requiring the spelling -z- are once again dictated by etymology: mezo [ˈmeːzu] “half” < medju(m), caize [ˈkajze] “mist” < *calige(m), strazzetto [straˈzetˑu] “suburban lane” < ex trajectu(m).

Declensions

m. s m. p f. s f. p
cineise cineixi cineise cineixi
tedesco tedeschi tedesca tedesche