I started an Italian course with Duolingo but had problems with plurals. I could follow that a word ending in o is masculine and a word ending in a was feminine. But the plural. It ends in i. I kept forgetting.
Today I solved the problem. It happened in a roundabout way. A chance surprise - there's a word for that, serendipity.
Learning Beginning with Benedict
My hop around the internet began with a search for the origin of the name Eggs Benedict. (I had written a post about breakfast eggs with smoked salmon at a kosher restaurant in London called SoYo.)
Learning Following With Florence
From the wikipedia article I went onto Eggs Florentine, with spinach. So I then researched the origin of that, under the word Florentine in cooking. Florentine means from the city of Florence, not a place I associate with spinach. Well, one does now. The traditional story, which is disputed, says that Eggs Forentine were supposedly introduced to the French court when Catherine de Medici of the Medici family in Florence arrived. One of her favourite, dishes, or a dish which was unusual to the locals, was called Florentine style.
The meaning of Medici
Then I wondered about the meaning of Medici. The Medici famly were infamous. Rich, powerful. Murderous? What did their name mean?
Quite the opposite of murderous. Life-saving. Medici means doctors, the plural of medico which means a doctor. In modern English we might talk about a medic. (At least, an American would.)
Now I know that medici is plural of medico, whenever I want to think of the Italian plural, I can think of Medici. I also have the pronunciation. Emphasis in Italian of the last syllable but one.
If you have a chance to travel to Italy, you can visit the Medici palace in Florence. If you can't travel but are keen on learning Italian, you could practise every day with duolingo.
Useful Websites
https://www.duolingo.com/enroll/it/en/Learn-Italian
http://www.palazzomediciriccardi.it/en/palace/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Medici
I hope this helps you. I have several more posts in this blog on learning languages.
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