What does "ciao" mean''''''?
What does "ciao" mean'''''''
26 Answers
Marco said:
Is changing "er" ending to "is" + "te" only for "te", not for "me", "se". etc? Seems like this still is one big problem for me. :(
Don't think about this endings as "is + te", because it doesn't exactly work like that. For -er verbs in preterite it is:
-í
-iste
-ió
-imos
-isteis
-ieron
where -i- has to do with the verb ending (-er), and the rest indicates person, number, tense and mood. Just take a few regular verbs and practice these endings as quick as you can (speed is important here; otherwise you stop to think, and you don't learn).
James said:
Te sacaron el funny bone cuando naciste, ¿verdad?
Actually, I had a feeling you were going to say exactly what you did, including the reference to logo and -itis.
En inglés, te llamaríamos una manta mojada. jeje
Sabía cómo ibais a reaccionar, y estaba casi seguro de que lo sabíais. Por eso puse "I can't help it".
Marco said:
Hi James, what does "naciste" mean? What is the infinitive verb form for it?
Its infinitive is "nacer". It is a regular veb in this tense (only irregular in both present tenses):
beb-er: beb-iste
nac-er: nac-iste
com-er: com-iste
deb-er: deb-iste
samdie said:
Given your last two paragraphs (which were interesting) you might have better said "for those of _us_ with etymolitis..."
Etimos = true (true meaning of the words, here)
Logos = word (and by extension "science, study, treaty,...")
So probably it should be "etymologitis" instead. "Etymolitis" sounds like "true relationship to the stones (ni Greek, "litos")". On the other hand, the prefix "-itis" usually is used to diseases with inflammation.
Sorry, I couldn't help it.
The word "ciao" (pronounced and written in Spanish as "chao") is Italian, where it originally meant "I am your slave".
The word has been written in Spanish academic dictionaries as "chao" for quite a long time. Writing it in Spanish the Italian way is misleading and unnecessary, since our language has strict spelling rules that are often incompatible with the Italian ones.
Wow, ordinarily I wouldn't post on an old thread, but with all this knowledge about who said what, I'm in awe.
Robin said:
Actually it's a way of saying goodbye stolen from Italian. Because Spanish is criminal like that.
All languages steal from each other, English is notorious for using the words of other languages to convey thoughts and ideas. Especially American English.
samdie said:
For what it's worth, "chao" (I think that's how they spell it [it's been a while]) is also the standard greeting/leave taking in Vietnamese. As far as I know there has been no significant Italian influence in Viet Nam so I assume that they developed it independently and the similarity is coincidence.As for Spanish, a while back I went looking for the lyrics of a Spanish song that's used on Spanish language television as part of a car advertisement. I started by looking for "Ciao, ciao, adiós". (I thought they were just being cute in combining Italian and Spanish.) But what I found was lyrics in which it was written "Chau, chau, adiós".
>
ciao is italian and it means hello or goodbye...its more casual, pronounced "chao"...
lazarus1907 said:
Marco said:
Hi James, what does "naciste" mean? What is the infinitive verb form for it?
Its infinitive is "nacer". It is a regular veb in this tense (only irregular in both present tenses):
beb-er: beb-iste
nac-er: nac-iste
com-er: com-iste
deb-er: deb-iste
Thank you so much, lazarus for this very useful and helpful information.
Is changing "er" ending to "is" + "te" only for "te", not for "me", "se". etc?
Seems like this still is one big problem for me. :(
Gracias por tu ayuda, mi amigo,
Marco
James said:
Sorry, I couldn't help it.
Te sacaron el funny bone cuando naciste, ¿verdad?
Actually, I had a feeling you were going to say exactly what you did, including the reference to logo and -itis.
En inglés, te llamaríamos una manta mojada. jeje
Hi James, what does "naciste" mean? What is the infinitive verb form for it?
Thank you,
Marco
James said:
Sorry, I couldn't help it. Te sacaron el funny bone cuando naciste, ¿verdad?
Actually, I had a feeling you were going to say exactly what you did, including the reference to logo and -itis.
En inglés, te llamaríamos una manta mojada. jeje
You seem to be in exceptionally rare form, today. (as another who suffers from etymologitis, I suppose that the "exceptionally" is implied the "rare" and, therefor, redundant but I think that it has passed into the realm of being a "fixed phrase").
Sorry, I couldn't help it.
Te sacaron el funny bone cuando naciste, ¿verdad?
Actually, I had a feeling you were going to say exactly what you did, including the reference to logo and -itis.
En inglés, te llamaríamos una manta mojada. jeje
Given your last two paragraphs (which were interesting) you might have better said "for those of _us_ with etymolitis..."
Guilty as charged, but, see, I had already had my fix, so I was referring to those of you still hurting. 
James said:
SoKuhl said:
lazarus1907 said:
The word "ciao" (pronounced and written in Spanish as "chao") is Italian, where it originally meant "I am your slave".
Holy sugarloaf!!! I will have to refrain from laughter, when next I see my friends from Italy and hear them say, "Ciao!"
For those with etymolitis (an incurable disease whose primary symptom is addiction to knowing the source of words), and you know who you are, here is more:
The word derives from the Venetian phrase s-ciào vostro or s-ciào su literally meaning "I am your slave". This greeting is analogous to the Latin Servus which is still used in a large section of Central/Eastern Europe. The expression was not a literal statement of fact, of course, but rather a perfunctory promise of good will among friends (along the lines "if you ever need my help, count on me"). The Venetian word for "slave", s-ciào ['st'ao] or s-ciàvo, is cognate of Italian schiavo and derives from Latin sclavus.
By the way, the modern Italian word schiavo is pronounced ski-YA-vo.
Given your last two paragraphs (which were interesting) you might have better said "for those of _us_ with
etymolitis..."
