The Varying Translations Of "Gypsy" In Verdi's "Anvil Chorus"

Cafe Society
1

In Verdi’s Anvil Chorus, the choir sings as follows:

Chi del gitano i giorni abbella? … Which translates to something not unlike “Who brightens the gypsy boy’s day?”

And then they answer their own question with La zingarella! … “The gypsy girl!”

Verdi is using two words for “gypsy” here: “Gitano” for the boy and “Zingarella” for the girl.

My translator app gives me “Zingaro” as “Gypsy,” so it makes sense that “gypsy girl” would translate as “zingarella.” But why not “Zingaro/Zingarella” or “Gitano/Gitanella”?

Is one word “proper” and one a pejorative (or perhaps a colloquialism)? Or was Verdi just trying to mix things up?

2

Of course I have no idea, but thanks for the interesting discussion.

3

My understanding is that there are two main types of exonyms for the Rom people in Europe:

  • ones related to the word “Egyptian”, like gitano
  • ones related to the Greek word “athínganos” which means something like “untouchable”, like zingaro