tarantella

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian tarantella, a diminutive of Taranto, a town in southern Italy (but popularly associated with tarantola (“tarantula”), on the belief that the dance was variously a result of, or cure for, its bite).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌtɛɹənˈtɛlə/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tæɹənˈtɛlə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

tarantella (plural tarantellas)

1. A rapid dance in 6/8 time, originating in Italy, or a piece of music for such a dance.
   • 1868 — Louisa May Alcott, Little Women ch. 37

     The set in which they found themselves was composed of English, and Amy was compelled to walk decorously through a cotillion, feeling all the while as if she could dance the tarantella with relish.

   • 1895 — Bret Harte, The Devotion of Enriquez

     "A tarantella, I presume?" blandly suggested the doctor.

     Miss Mannersley stopped, and rose carelessly from the piano. "It is a Moorish gypsy song of the fifteenth century," she said dryly.

   • 1922 — Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion ch. v

     We learn to understand why our addled minds seize so little with precision, why they are caught up and tossed about in a kind of tarantella by headlines and catch-words, why so often they cannot tell things apart or discern identity in apparent differences.

See also

• tarantula

Noun

tarantella

1. tarantula

Etymology

Diminutive of Taranto, a town in southern Italy (but popularly associated with tarantola (“tarantula”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /taranˈtɛlːa/

Noun

tarantella f (plural tarantelle)

1. tarantella

Anagrams

• allattarne, rallentata