L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2024 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano T o d a y ' s w o r d , i m p e c c a b i l e ( e e m - p e k - k a h - bee-lai) is some- thing you want to be associated with any- thing you do. It comes from t h e L a t i n i m p e c c a b i l i s , which combines the prefix "in-" (meaning "not") with peccare (meaning "to sin" or "to make a mistake"). Thus, its literal translation to English would be "not capable of sinning" or "flaw- less." In fact, we even have a twin word, "impeccable," which may be a tad fancy, but has the same origin! Over time, impeccabile h a s e v o l v e d i n u s a g e t o broadly denote perfection or flawlessness, not just in the context of moral or ethical behavior but also in quality, performance, and appear- ance. So, in contemporary Italian, impeccabile is used to describe anything that is faultless or executed to the h i g h e s t s t a n d a r d s : f o r example, one might compli- m e n t a w e l l - o r g a n i z e d e v e n t , a n d s p e a k o f U n evento organizzato in modo impeccabile ("a flawlessly organized event"). But could also praise someone's flaw- less appearance, saying they have Un aspetto impecca- bile, or admire an immacu- late performance in sports 1 food 3 dog 7 of the 8 friend 9 counted 13 west 15 (plural of) on the 16 (you/voi) say 17 wines Using the provided meanings as clues, search for the appropriate Italian word in the grid 1 (you/tu) fall 2 beautiful 4 (you/tu) love 5 hero 6 (you/voi) sing 10 coughs 11 north 12 (plural of) my, belonging to me 14 east or the arts, and state that was Una prestazione impec- cabile. Basically, the term repre- sents a sense of perfection that leaves no room for criti- cism: it's the highest level of flawlessness one can get, and that's why impeccabile is always used for some- t h i n g t h a t t r u l y h a s n o errors. It's also interesting to note how the evolution of impeccabile from its Latin roots to its modern Italian usage reflects a broader lin- g u i s t i c t r a n s i t i o n f r o m strictly moral or ethical con- notations to a wider applica- tion, that includes perfec- tion in a more general sense. This shift shows how lan- guage can adapt over time, expanding the contexts in which specific words can be applied while retaining their core meaning. L'esibizione del pianista è stata impeccabile T h e p i a n i s t ' s p e r f o r - mance was impeccable Il modo in cui coordini i colori è impeccabile The way you match colors is flawless Fa la event organizer. I s u o i p a r t y s o n o s e m p r e impeccabili She's an event organizer: her parties are always per- fect LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Impeccabile: the word for perfection! Photo 117317492 | Couple © VinhDao | Dreamstime.com 1 son 2 three 3 heart 4 to listen 5 girl 6 book 7 man 8 hand 9 home 10 Tuesday 11 light 12 to drink 13 father 14 two A C R O S S D O W N ITALIAN WORD SEARCH The solution to these word games will be available on the next edition. Games courtesy of Lexis Rex

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