More musings from Italy. From Fabrizio de Andre in Genoa, through former train tunnels to Moneglia, Dolomites to the left and down to Siena. On to Orvieto, tiny hillside village but giant duomo and now in the peace and tranquillity of the mountains in Abruzzo.
The camper van is not allowed to exceed 90 km/h so there’s plenty of time for musing. About the origins of ‘cin cin’ for example, which is how Italians say ‘cheers/bottoms up/down the hatch’.
‘Cin cin’ comes from the Cantonese qǐng qǐng (请请). Originally used by Chinese sailors as a friendly greeting, it was later adopted by European sailors and merchants. And it became popular in Italy because it reminds Italians of the sound that wine or beer glasses make when they clink together.
Chin, however, comes from Proto-Indo-European ǵénus, for chin or jaw. If you’re being brave about something, you take it on the chin (as in not avoiding the punch). If you chat for a while, you’re having a chinwag but if you’re jawing, you’ve been talking for too long and chin music is idle chatter.
For ‘chinless wonder’ (an ineffective upper-class male) see most Tories! Will they get in yet again?
Chin up! It might never happen😊
PS Listen to Fabrizio through the link.