Tuesday Word: macaronic

[ellesieg.livejournal.com]

Macaronic was coined by Italian poet Teofilo Folengo in the 1500s to describe the style of verse, written in a mix of Italian and Latin, that he invented. The meaning of the term soon broadened to encompass any multilingual poem, and then -- although this sense is obsolete -- any sort of jumble/medley.

Macaronic comes from the Italian maccarone ("dumpling"), as does macaroni. Pretty straightforward. Macaronic verse generally uses its mix of languages for comedic effect, as when Latin endings are tagged onto everyday English words to make them look more dramatic.