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Rank 3 of 9863 words44 places

Italy

63 English words in this atlas point back to Italy, spread across 44 places.

WordThe placeRelationshipConfidence
jeansThe trousers point to Genoa, not to the American West.GenoaFrom its productWell attested
parmesanThe grater cheese is an English take on Parma.ParmaFrom its productWell attested
sybariteThe pleasure-seeker is named for a vanished Greek city in Italy.SybarisFrom its peopleWell attested
magentaThe color is named for a battle in Lombardy.MagentaHistorical nameWell attested
cantaloupeThe melon is named for a papal estate in the Sabine hills.Cantalupo in SabinaFrom its productProbable
tarantulaThe spider is named for Taranto.TarantoFrom the placeWell attested
italicSlanted type is named for Italy, and more tightly for Venice.VeniceFrom its peopleWell attested
sardineThe fish may be named for Sardinia. It also may not.SardiniaDisputedDisputed
gorgonzolaThe blue cheese is a town on the edge of Milan.GorgonzolaFrom its productWell attested
asiagoThe cheese is named for a plateau town in the Veneto.AsiagoFrom its productWell attested
bistouryThe surgical blade may be named for a Tuscan city, like the pistol.PistoiaFrom its productDisputed
bolognaThe lunch meat is named for an Italian city.BolognaFrom its productWell attested
charlatanThe fraud may be named for an Umbrian village of licence-sellers.Cerreto di SpoletoDisputedDisputed
ChiantiThe wine names the hills it grows on.ChiantiFrom its productWell attested
faienceThe glazed ware is named for an Italian town, by way of French.FaenzaFrom its productWell attested
génoiseThe sponge is the French feminine for Genoese.GenoaFrom its peopleWell attested
leghornThe chicken carries the English name for Livorno.LivornoHistorical nameWell attested
millinerThe hatmaker is a Milanese, spelling aside.MilanFrom its peopleWell attested
pistolThe handgun's name may come from Pistoia, or from a Czech word for a pipe.PistoiaDisputedDisputed
proseccoThe sparkling wine is named for a village near Trieste.ProseccoFrom its productWell attested
romaineThe other name for cos lettuce is simply Roman.RomeFrom its peopleWell attested
siennaThe pigment is named for a Tuscan city.SienaFrom its productWell attested
stromboliThe stuffed bread is named for an Italian volcano.StromboliFrom the placeWell attested
tarantellaThe dance and the spider share a city.TarantoFrom the placeWell attested
bergamotThe tea's perfume is usually traced to a Lombard city.BergamoFrom its productProbable
capriThe trousers are named for an Italian island.CapriFrom the placeWell attested
cretonneThe furnishing cotton is usually traced to a Norman village.CretonFrom its productProbable
FrascatiThe Roman table wine is named for a hill town.FrascatiFrom its productWell attested
lidoBritish swimming pools are named for a Venetian sandbar.Lido di VeneziaFrom the placeWell attested
palaceEvery palace in English is one hill in Rome.Palatine HillFrom the placeWell attested
pavaneThe stately dance is usually traced to Padua.PaduaHistorical nameProbable
pozzolanaRoman concrete is named for a town near Naples.PozzuoliFrom its productWell attested
veronalThe first barbiturate sleeping drug was named for Verona.VeronaFrom the placeProbable
avellaneA heraldic cross is named for an Italian hazelnut town.AvellaFrom the placeWell attested
bologneseThe meat sauce is the adjective for Bolognese.BolognaFrom its peopleWell attested
etnaThe spirit burner is named for a Sicilian volcano.Mount EtnaFrom the placeWell attested
milanesaThe South American cutlet is Milanese.MilanFrom its peopleWell attested
millineryThe trade name, like the milliner, is Milanese.MilanFrom its peopleWell attested
neroliThe perfume oil is named for an Italian town, through a princess.NerolaIndirectWell attested
orvietanA famous fake cure-all is named for the same Umbrian town.OrvietoFrom its productWell attested
OrvietoThe wine is named for a town on a tufa outcrop.OrvietoFrom its productWell attested
sybariticThe adjective for luxury is a Greek colony in Italy.SybarisFrom its peopleWell attested
Roman noseA facial profile is named for a city's portrait busts.RomeFrom its peopleWell attested
all roads lead to RomeThe Roman road network really did radiate from one gilded marker in the Forum.RomeFrom the placeWell attested
Bolognese sauceBologna serves its ragu with flat egg pasta; the spaghetti version is a foreign habit.BolognaFrom the placeWell attested
Caprese saladCaprese simply means from Capri; the island named a dish the mainland now owns.CapriFrom its peopleWell attested
capri pantsNamed for an Italian holiday island by a designer who was not Italian.CapriFrom the placeProbable
Carrara marbleMichelangelo climbed the mountain to pick his own blocks from the quarry.CarraraFrom its productWell attested
chicken MarengoNapoleon's cook almost certainly did not improvise it on the battlefield.Spinetta MarengoFrom the placeProbable
fiddle while Rome burnsThe fiddle would not be invented for another fourteen centuries.RomeFrom the placeWell attested
go to CanossaA castle in Emilia where an emperor waited in the snow for three days.CanossaFrom the placeWell attested
Italian sandwichIn Maine, ordering "an Italian" gets you a sandwich, not a person.ItalyFrom its peopleProbable
Lombardy poplarEvery Lombardy poplar is a male clone of a single mutant tree.LombardyFrom the placeWell attested
Orvieto wareCollectors named a whole medieval pottery style after one Umbrian hill town.OrvietoFrom its productProbable
Rome wasn't built in a dayThe proverb about Rome reached English through medieval France.RomeFrom the placeWell attested
swim the TiberConverts swim one river toward Rome and another toward Constantinople.TiberFrom the placeProbable
when in Rome, do as the Romans doThe advice started as a bishop's ruling on which day to fast.RomeFrom the placeWell attested
Abruzzi wareThe pottery is named for a mountain region that most tourists skip.AbruzzoFrom the placeProbable
caprisThe trousers are named for the island where their designer's family took holidays.CapriIndirectWell attested
grenacheThe grape and its name may come from opposite ends of the Mediterranean.VernazzaIndirectDisputed
Leaning Tower of PisaThe tower began to lean before the third story was finished, and the masons tried to correct it as they built.PisaFrom the placeWell attested
orvietiteOne of a set of obsolete rock names coined for the potassium rich volcanoes north of Rome, each named after its own town.OrvietoFrom the placeProbable
tonaliteAn Alpine pass gave its name to one of the commonest rock types in the continental crust.Tonale PassFrom the placeWell attested
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