Cows in Italy:

Bovine Expressions in Italian

Among my fondest memories of early childhood are the times spent at our family’s dairy farm in Italy, my father’s birthplace. There I learned everything about cows: milking them (unlike some of my classmates, I actually knew what part of the cow milk came from), feeding them, and playing with the calves. More recently, I have decided to pay tribute to my all-time favourite animals by writing this essay: bovine expressions in Italian.

Italy has always had a special relationship with Bos taurus (the scientific term for the domestic cow). In fact, the original name of the country was Vitalia from “vitulus,” the Latin word for calf. Italy therefore was the land of calves. Perhaps then in homage to their national animal, Italians have spiced their language with expressions referring to bovines of all ages and kinds.

First are those with “cow” itself, “vacca” (plural “vacche”) from the same word in Latin. People often think of cows as being fat and bulky. Nonetheless, when faced with starvation cows can slim down as much as anyone else, and hence the expression “vacche magre” (thin cows) in contrast to “vacche grasse” (fat cows). This of course stems from Joseph’s dream in the Bible where he sees seven fat cows and seven thin ones, signifying seven years of feast and seven of famine. Thus “essere in tempo di vacche grasse” translates literally as “to be in the time of fat cows,” or to live in a time of plenty. “Essere in tempo di vacche magre” on the other hand means to live in a time of scarcity.

The cow’s mate, the bull, also boasts a fair share of sayings to his name in Italian, “toro” (plural “tori”). One familiar to both English and Italian speakers is “prendere il toro per le corna,” a word-for-word translation of “to take the bull by the horns” (having run into a number of cantankerous bulls in my lifetime, I would call this proposition downright suicidal). A similar expression is “tagliare la testa al toro,” to cut the head off the bull. The closest equivalent in English might be to nip something [a problem] in the bud. Italian has in addition “robusto come un toro,” robust as a bull, or “strong as an ox.”

“Vitello” has spawned – or should I say “calved?” – a few phrases of its own. Among them is “adorare il vitello d’oro,” to worship the golden calf. Like the fat and skinny cows, this saying comes from the Bible as well, when the Israelites take the gold in their earrings and build an idol in the form of a calf. Today, however, to worship the golden calf means to pursue wealth relentlessly, in other words, to be money-hungry.

Another calf-derived word is “vitellone,” literally “big calf” (the suffix “one” signifies “big” or “large” in Italian). In a figurative sense, a “vitellone” refers to a young man who still lives at home, does not contribute to the family finances, and generally leads an unproductive existence, like an older calf who still nurses at the mother cow’s teats. The most approximate English expression would be “mama’s boy.” The term was made famous by director Federico Fellini’s film “I Vitelloni,” which told the story of several youths fitting this description.

Perhaps the largest number of bovine expressions in Italian are held by the ox, “bue” (less commonly “bove,” plural “buoi”). As a former beast of burden whose strength and good nature were highly valued in the days before tractors and combines, the ox’s virtues are still commemorated in everyday speech. For example, while in Anglo-Saxon countries dogs are the industrious ones, Italians say “lavorare come un bue,” or “work like an ox.” Similarly, there is “pazienza da bue,” patience of an ox, which we express as “the patience of a saint.” Despite the ox’s many admirable qualities, though, he was never renowned for his great mind. A “bue,” figuratively speaking, is an individual who is rather slow and dull-witted. “Sei un bue (you’re an ox)” conveys the same idea as “you dumb ox.”

As animals whose roles once overlapped before the advent of mechanized agriculture, Italian contains several expressions with “ox” where we use “horse” instead. For instance, “mettere il carro innanzi ai buoi” translates roughly as “to put the cart before the oxen,” the oxen being the horse in the English equivalent. Italians likewise say “chiudere la stalla quando i buoi sono scappati,” to close the barn when the oxen have escaped. In other words, make sure you close the door before the animals, whether horses or oxen, have left the barn.

So the next time you eat veal parmesan, ricotta cheese, or ice cream, remember the animal that has contributed so much not only to Italy’s cuisine but to its language as well.

- Emily, 17, Canada