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Transcriber-Translator's
Conventions and Notes

My interlinear (between the lines) translation into English is everywhere in CAPITAL LETTERS.  The translation of any particular Italian word is never more than two full lines of English text below it, although this sometimes makes the English awkward.  The Italian original is no less often awkward.

Five periods (.....) always indicate that the original text was unreadable or that I was unable to assign a meaning to what was readable.

Wherever I have been unable to identify a place name, I have put quotes around it (for example, "San Mauro").

I have placed all Michele Fuschino's marginal additions in braces { }.

Differences between the spelling of Michele Fuschino's Journal and the present spelling of Italian.  Most characteristic are:

  1. His consonant substitutions, for example, the letter "c" for "g" (mangiare becomes manciare), "t" for "d" (andato becomes antato), "b" for "p" (sopra becomes sobra), "q" for "g" (guardia becomes quardia).
  2. His attachment of articles and pronouns to verbs and nouns, for example, comandato a fare becomes comantato affare, and sull'Adige becomes sullatici.
  3. His word endings "a", "e", and "o" are used indifferently, without regard to meaning, as if Italian were not an inflected language.  [Note]
  4. His use of capital letters and punctuation marks in many cases appears arbitrary.

The small book or booklet ("libbretto") into which Michele Fuschino wrote measures 4 1/2 inches by 6 3/8 inches.

Note:  I don't know if the following applies to Michele Fuschino. I include it as an object of comparison.  Angelo Abiuso (Geneva) wrote to me:

When old people in Gambatesa [a village in Molise] speak Italian, they often put an "a" or an "i" at the end of dialect words to make them look like good Italian.  They do the same when they want to write a word.  But often it is the wrong letter.

Angelo also wrote:

Fuschino writes "siniva via" (24 dicembre 1882), which is dialect.  In Italian it would be se ne andava via.  As I told you Fuschino's diary is half Italian, half dialect.  But it gives a good example of the way Molisani were talking years ago.  But today old people still talk (more or less) like this.  It is the same way old people used to speak Italian (real Italian and not dialect) until the 1970s in Gambatesa.

Cf. The Dialect Spoken in Gambatesa.  [Back]

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Last revised: 17 March 2007 : 2007-03-17 by Robert [Wesley] Angelo.

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