As we all know, the singular of “paparazzi” is “paparazzo”. Italian, being a Romance language, indicates the gender of its nouns by inflection, and I assume “paparazzo” is masculine. This being the case, what should one call a single, female, intrusive photographer? A “paparazza”?
This doesn’t quite answer your question, but [
Paparazza is right. Names of animals in Italian frequently use gender endings to indicate sex, for example capra ‘nanny goat’, capro ‘billy goat’; gatta ‘pussycat’, gatto ‘tomcat’. So according to grammatical principles, paparazza is theoretically possible even if you don’t find it in a dictionary.
Of course language used by people in real life is not so nitpicky about derivational endings. If it sounds right, people will say it. If enough people take to saying it, then it will join the language, sia dannata la grammatica (grammar be damned).
In fact, it isn’t only theoretical: paparazza scored 40,600 hits on Google, with page titles like “The Royal Paparazza” and “My Sister the Paparazza.” So your guess was accurate, *Tevildo. Pat yourself on the back.
Since the thread title implicitly asks for the feminine plural form, that would be paparazze. The -e is always pronounced as a full vowel in Italian, even when final.
Does so - thanks!
What, it’s not mamarazzi? :smack:
Both paparazzo and *paparazza * (and paparazzi, too) are attested as surnames in Southern Italy. They apparently derive from the Southern Italian word *pápero * (m.) / *pápera * (f.) “gosling,” also (as in English) used to mean “stupid / silly / foolish person.”
So, paparazzi (loosely) would be “big dumb geese.”