Free thoughts and words

Accelerare, Accellerare. Why?

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Started by

Carlos

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Opening post by Carlos

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759

Forgive me for even opening a discussion, but since we are in a forum and I remain convinced that forums should contribute to improving the knowledge of those who frequent them, it might be worth it.

I continue to read (not only here, but it's the same elsewhere) accellerare, accellerando, accellerazione etc.

Well: it is wrong!

The verb accelerare is written with a single "l", because it derives from celere!!!

This is one of the most common errors in the Italian language. Others are, for example, qual è (which should be written without an apostrophe, so NOT qual'è), meteorologia (and NOT meteREOlogia, because it derives from "meteora"), fa [third person singular of the verb fare], which should be written without an accent (mi fa male, therefore, NOT mi fà male), whereas dà [third person singular of the verb dare] is written with the accent to distinguish it from the preposition (Mi dà ai nervi! but Da che pulpito! and - attention! - Da' qua, come Fa' un po' vedere, Sta' attento which must be written with an apostrophe - NOT with an accent! - because they are elisions of "Dai", "Fai", "poco", "Stai").

I apologize again; it is true that the forum deals with musical topics, but since the decline of our Italian language is often stigmatized precisely because of internet language and, above all, SMS, misled by convenience and to save precious characters (un pò better occupies less space than un po' meglio, but it is wrong...), I believe we should worry a little more about how we write.

http://www.wordrefer...ione/accelerare

http://www.wordrefer...ione/accelerare

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Reply 3 by Frank

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I didn't understand what made Carlos so angry... but speaking of "accelerating" I have already "served my time" ... and expiated

I was writing exactly

Frank wrote:

I use the Microsoft corrector to avoid proposing illegible posts full of typos ... he takes it for granted but obviously it is wrong, because 'accelerare' derives from 'celere'

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Reply 4 by Carlos

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759
Frank wrote:

I didn't understand what made Carlos furious... but speaking of "accelerating," I have already "given" it my all

I didn't get angry and I wasn't mad at you, but after your post I saw others, so... that's all there is to it.

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Reply 5 by Kappa

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146

Exactly right Carlos, but I must admit that this seems to me an environment, "linguistically" speaking (and not just), very "orderly" and respectful of grammar and spelling.

I have never come across a post where I couldn't understand the meaning... which nowadays is a privilege, considering what one reads around.

Obviously everything can be improved and one never stops learning, so let's step on the accelerator to avoid running into this error again

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Reply 8 by sisifo1987

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castellammare di stabia

Carlo, thank you for the post.

Sometimes grammatical errors are made out of carelessness, due to distraction and sometimes (let's admit it) also out of ignorance...

I always appreciate those who correct me (I take it as attention towards me) and I invite anyone who notices something wrong to let me know.

Thank you

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Reply 9 by suonolatromba

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60
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Firenze
sisifo1987 wrote:

[...]) and I invite anyone who notices something wrong to let me know.

Thank you

I invite [you] to let me know.

:-)

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Reply 11 by gianni22

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159

In my opinion, the parameter that 'accelerare' derives from "celere" is not exhaustive for all cases; see 'dire' and 'contraddire'. If the assumption were true that derivation from another word is enough to eliminate the double consonant, one would have to use 'contradire'.

This one is nice

http://www.etimo.it/?term=contraddire

Both would seem correct.

Treccani speaks of it as less correct

http://www.treccani....io/contraddire/

Returning to the topic title, 'rallentando' because of 2 Ls?

http://www.etimo.it/?term=contraddirehttp://www.treccani....io/contraddire/

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Reply 12 by sisifo1987

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castellammare di stabia
Gianni22 wrote:

In my opinion, the parameter that 'accelerare' derives from, "celere", is not exhaustive for all cases; see "dire" and "contraddire". If the assumption were true that derivation from another word is enough to eliminate the double [consonant], one would have to use "contradire".

Find the errors!

Sorry Gianni22 (even if you didn't ask...) even in these lines there is something that isn't right.

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Reply 13 by Thesimon

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4,504
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Ariccia, RM
Carlos wrote:

I apologize again; it is true that the forum deals with musical topics, but since the decline of our Italian language is often stigmatized precisely because of internet language and, above all, SMS—misled by convenience and the desire to save precious characters (a bit better [un pò meglio] takes up less space than a bit better [un po' meglio], but it is wrong...)—I believe we should worry a little more about how we write.

It's true (Which should be written like this: "È", but to hurry I write it like this: "E'".)

Especially when a person has to rush, they rarely concentrate on producing a draft free of errors. I believe the important thing is that some rules are known; in the end, we aren't writing an essay, we are on a forum, and I don't think there should be this grammatical rigidity.

It often happens to me, especially in SMS, to write "perché" (because) in this way: "perche'" or "perche" or "perchè".

Once entered, I don't feel like deleting it, since to enter those special characters I had to hold my finger pressed on the touchscreen for at least 3 seconds, and for an accent or an apostrophe (here it is masculine and doesn't need one) I don't want to waste time... In the end, I think it's like this for everyone.

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Reply 14 by riccardoM

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39

I only use apostrophes on the internet to improve readability', not everyone is a slave to microsoft or apple

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Reply 15 by Carlos

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759
sisifo1987 wrote:

Find the errors!

Sorry Gianni22 (even if you didn't ask...) even in these lines there is something wrong.

Gianni22 wrote:

In my opinion, the parameter that 'accelerare' derives from "celere" is not exhaustive for all cases; see 'dire' and 'contraddire'. If the assumption were true that derivation from another word is enough to eliminate the double letter, one would have to use 'contradire'.

This one is nice

http://www.etimo.it/?term=contraddire

Both would seem correct.

Treccani speaks of it being less correct

http://www.treccani....io/contraddire/

Turning back to the topic title, why 'rallentando' with 2 Ls?

I think you missed an important detail: 'accelerare' is written with a single "l" because the l in the word CELERE is inside the word, which therefore cannot be modified.

'Contraddire' is a completely different case, because the "d" is the initial one (and I would also like to point out that aCCelerare is indeed written with two Cs). The same applies to 'rallentare', which derives from 'lento', so the "l" is at the beginning of the word. There is a big difference. Writing aCCeLLerare is like writing contraDDiRRe.

http://www.etimo.it/?term=contraddirehttp://www.treccani....io/contraddire/

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Reply 16 by thallo

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Crema

Ad-celero, Latin, which then becomes accelero...

Ri-allentare, which becomes rallentare and in the second part derives from ad-lentare, not exactly Latin, but I believe archaic Italian (according to the internet we are talking about the 14th century)

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Reply 17 by gianni22

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159

You're right Carlos, the difference between those who instinctively, like me, use acceleration correctly and those who instead manage to break the grammar to the point of being able to define how much you write. Your observation about the syllable, whether initial or central in a word used in another "compound" or "derived" word, is absolutely correct.

I can't think of the term

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Reply 18 by Cicciolinuks

Posts
12
City
Lontano
Carlos wrote:

Forgive me for even opening a discussion, but since we are in a forum and I remain convinced that forums should contribute to improving the knowledge of those who frequent them, it might be worth it.

I continue to read (not only here, but it's the same elsewhere) accellerare, accellerando, accellerazione etc.

Well: it is wrong!

The verb accelerare is written with a single "l", because it derives from celere!!!

This is one of the most common errors in the Italian language.

Accellerare is wrong, exactly like... "arrivare"

In fact "arivare" comes from the word "riva" (reaching "a riva" [the shore] = arivare → arrivare, then generalized; one can even "arrivare" to the top of Everest, without there being a shore).

Our spelling (of which we can be proud) must also deal with pronunciation, so in some cases freedom is given to use both forms: the one derived from etymology, and the one that mimics pronunciation. The second is not always wrong; on the contrary, it is less free than one might believe, as it follows precise euphonic rules that our brains know, but we often do not.

Other times, only one of these forms is used (in fact "arivare" is wrong, exactly like "arotare").

Instead of Wordreference, one might prefer the Treccani website: http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/accelerare-o-accellerare_%28La-grammatica-italiana%29/

When doubling is not inside a word, it is not indicated; we pronounce "andiamo a Rroma" but we write "andiamo a Roma"; if there were the specific verb "arromare" = to arrive in Rome, then the problem would arise...

The problem for those who must bring order to spelling rules is that they then have to provide explanations, but many are now deceased and gave their explanations... in due time, or left them to be intuited.

---edit

Oops, Accademia della Crusca also lists it as incorrect... but widespread; however, the reasoning above still holds for the rest

http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/accelerare-o-accellerare_%28La-grammatica-italiana%29/
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