Council for Ligurian Linguistic Heritage

Ligurian Council

DEIZE

Italian-Ligurian (Genoese) dictionary

paura

f. n.
  1. emozione di forte apprensione o timore

    poia [ˈpwiːa] ~ [ˈpujˑa]1

    mia cugina ha paura dei cani fin da quando era bambina

    mæ coxa a l’à poia di chen fin da ch’a l’ea figgeua

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1. Pronunciation of words with Latin base in -ōria

In Genoese, words whose Latin base ends in -ōria may be pronounced either with -[wiː]- (more typically urban, but nonetheless well spread in areas influenced by the metropolitan model) or with -[uj]- (typical of areas more or less distant from the capital, but likewise extremely common). Thus, words like poia [ˈpwiːa] ~ [ˈpujˑa] “fear,” spassoia [spaˈswiːa] ~ [spaˈsujˑa] “broom,” sarmoia [sarˈmwiːa] ~ [sarˈmujˑa] “brine” and tesoie [teˈzwiːe] ~ [teˈzuiˑe] “scissors” are indicated here with both pronunciations, equally common and correct. The spelling of Genoese makes it possible to write such words without privileging one pronunciation over the other. On pronunciation alternations in contemporary Genoese shared by the speaker community, and on their lexicographic representations (partly taken up in DEIZE), see in particular Lusito (2025, § 6).

Declensions

f. s f. p
poia poie

Bibliography

  • S. Lusito, Aspetti teorici e pratici della redazione di un dizionario genovese-italiano della lingua contemporanea. Metalessicografia di una varietà romanza di koinè, Edizioni dell’Orso, 2025