L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 20 L'Italo-Americano I n I t a l i a n , s v o l t a (svol-tah) is a small w o r d w i t h a l o t o f w e i g h t ! I t i s u s e d constantly in every- day speech, journalism, and public discourse, yet it keeps a very concrete core mean- i n g . A t i t s o r i g i n , s v o l t a r e f e r s t o a t u r n , t h e m o m e n t w h e n a r o a d , a path, or a direction changes. The noun comes from the v e r b s v o l t a r e , w h i c h i n modern Italian means "to turn" or "to change direc- t i o n , " i t s e l f b u i l t o n v o l t a r e , "to turn." From the start, then, svolta is tied to movement and orien- tation. That physical meaning is s t i l l v e r y m u c h a l i v e , s o w h e n s o m e o n e s a y s a l l a prossima svolta, they are talking about an actual bend in the road. From there, the semantic shift is very simple and intuitive: a change of direction in space becomes a change of direction in time, intention, or outcome, and svolta begins indicating a turning point in general, a moment after which things n o l o n g e r p r o c e e d i n t h e same way as before. This metaphorical exten- 1 given 3 egg 7 (feminine plural of) full 8 east 9 insect 13 echo 14 heads 16 air 17 tail Using the provided meanings as clues, search for the appropriate Italian word in the grid 1 after, later 2 (feminine plural of) your 4 west 5 eight 6 desert 10 (plural of) new 11 dinner 12 (he/she) ties 15 his, her, its sion is now the most com- m o n u s e o f t h e w o r d . I n newspapers, svolta often signals a decisive shift: a n e w p o l i t i c a l c o u r s e , a change in economic strate- g y , o r a b r e a k w i t h p a s t practice. Phrases like una svolta nella politica ener- getica or una svolta nelle indagini are immediately c l e a r t o I t a l i a n r e a d e r s : something has turned; the path has changed. The word also works well in more personal contexts, for instance when someone says quel lavoro ha segnato una svolta nella mia vita, they suggest a "before" and an "after," a clear point of transition in a person's life. Unlike softer terms such as c a m b i a m e n t o , s v o l t a implies decisiveness. It is n o t j u s t t h a t s o m e t h i n g changed, but that it took a new direction. A l l a p r i m a s v o l t a a destra trovi la farmacia. At the first right turn, you'll find the pharmacy. S i a m o a u n a s v o l t a : o cambiamo adesso, o resti- amo fermi. We're at a turning point: either we change now, or we stay stuck. LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Svolta: when Italian talks about turning points © Antonio Guillem | Dreamstime.com 1 door 2 three 3 to listen 4 to run 5 book 6 Monday 7 to talk 8 to hold 9 head 10 school 11 to eat 12 girl 13 mother 14 son 15 man 16 two 17 hand 18 father 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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