# Italian/Sicilian slang "nivida" for blacks? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761 "2013-09-01T22:03:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fullbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Fullbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fullbird)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761/1 "2013-09-01T22:03:25Z")
My wife is half-Sicilian, as in her father’s parents were both born in the United States to off-the-boat Sicilians. The older generations use a slang for blacks that sounds like nee-vi-dah. Neevida? I can’t fid anything about it through google. Any one know what I’m talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Fullbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Fullbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fullbird)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761/2 "2013-09-01T22:11:52Z")
I should clarify that my undergrad was Linguistics and I am honestly curious of the etymology of the word. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761/3 "2013-09-01T22:14:12Z")
Which syllable is stressed, and what part of Sicily? ---
**Author:** ![Fullbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Fullbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fullbird)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761/4 "2013-09-01T22:16:14Z")
First syllable, nEE vida. Not sure which part. Don’t know how to type in IPA… ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761/5 "2013-09-01T22:19:31Z")
[Here’s a previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=544699) on this or a similar subject. Not much looks like “nivida” though, although there is “facina”. ---
**Author:** ![Fullbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Fullbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fullbird)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761/6 "2013-09-01T22:21:41Z")
That thread is why I decided to post this question. Already read it… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761/7 "2013-09-01T22:23:32Z")
I checked a couple of dialect dictionaries. Nothing obvious so far. -_iddu_ is a common Sicilian ending, corresponding to Italian _-ello_. With Sicilian / Italian, -i- and -e- are often exchanged, and -v- and -b- often switch places as well. A lot of words beginning in n– are Italian an-, un-, etc. Not that this is much help, I know! ---
**Author:** ![Fullbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Fullbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fullbird)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761/8 "2013-09-01T22:35:08Z")
I didn’t know that about Sicilian/Italian. I appreciate the insight. Edit: plural is Nividas… Didn’t know if that would help. My guess is that it is a bastardization of some sort… ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761/9 "2013-09-01T22:40:10Z")
I grew up with a large extended family with Sicilian grandparents and heard Sicilian spoken in the home frequently, but never heard that word. The Sicilian slang word for black people that was told to me was _melangiani_, which literally means ‘eggplant’, though it also incorporates the Greek word for black. There are different dialects in different parts of Sicily, and my family is from the province of Messina, so for all I know “_nivida_” might occur elsewhere. The closest resemblance I can find is the word _nvidia_, which means ‘envy’. The Sicilian word for black is _nìuru_. ---
**Author:** ![Fullbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Fullbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fullbird)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761/10 "2013-09-01T22:44:05Z")
Thank you Johanna. I had heard of melagnani and it’s derivatives. I should also say this term is derogatory. ---
**Author:** ![Neuromancer9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/96bed5/32.png) [@Neuromancer9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neuromancer9)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761/11 "2018-06-18T21:41:16Z")
My in-laws are Sicilian, and I’ve heard the same word used as derogatory slang for blacks. I’ve looked in other places and have seen lots of other slang but never this. At least I know someone else has heard it too 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761/12 "2018-06-18T21:50:26Z")
There is a lot of cross-pollination of slang from different immigrant groups on the East Coast. It’s possible that the word you’re hearing has origins not in Italian but in Yiddish, Polish, or some other European language. I have heard just about every Italian slur that there is, and never heard that one. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761/13 "2018-06-18T22:23:51Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > … The closest resemblance I can find is the word _nvidia_, which means ‘envy’. The Sicilian word for black is _nìuru_. Huh, I’d always thought the graphics card company just used a name they’d made up. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761/14 "2018-06-19T07:47:52Z")
I’m wondering if the word in question might be _[nùmida](http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/ricerca/numida/)_. English, [numidian](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/numidian). The Spanish cognate _[númida](http://dle.rae.es/?id=QipmlcR)_ is sometimes used as an “I got big words” synonym for “person from Northern Africa”. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/italian-sicilian-slang-nivida-for-blacks/667761/15 "2018-06-19T14:55:15Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > There is a lot of cross-pollination of slang from different immigrant groups on the East Coast. It’s possible that the word you’re hearing has origins not in Italian but in Yiddish, … [underline added] Nope.