down in weekly themes, Emanuela made these comments

...My question is: why so often English writers misspell Italian names in double letters?
Even my name Emanuela is very very often written as Emanuella, and I cannot figure out why.
...
Just a curiosity:
We call Principe azzurro your Prince Charming - I suppose because he wears a sky-blue cloak

So what are the general rules for double letters?

i think that Emanuela becomes Emanuella because of the the English name of Ellen/ with its Ella diminutive. (sometimes even my name gets written as Hellen, by people who are sure its just Ellen with an H at the front.

there is also Cinderella, (and i think in the italian she is cinderela, single ell.)

and the Double z while not unknown, (drizzle, fizzle, pizza) is not common.
and her second point about prince charming be named for his blue cloak-- i thought that was too interesting to be buried.

So what are the general rules for double letters?


If we're talking general rules (cos there aren't any solid ones!) I reckon "-ela" implies the vague possibility of a long e sound, whereas "-ella" makes it a definite short e sound. I can't think of a single word with an "-ela" ending and a long e, so this rule must be inherited from other endings.

"-eted" as in completed, deleted (long e)
"-etted" as in abetted, regretted (short e)

"-ered" as in revered and ..uhhh (long e anyway)
"-erred" as in erred, deferred (short e -ish)

This being English, though, it's quite tough coming up with examples.

Emanuela, I think also a lot of (speaking for myself, anyway) ignorant English speakers see Italian as consisting of quite a few double letters - bella, bellissima, pizza, pianissimo etc - and maybe tend to overdo it when writing Italian names and some words. I apologise on behalf of all of us ignorami.

word with an "-ela" ending and a long e

Monongahela (from a different linguistic base altogether)

But in general the single-consonant-short-preceding-vowel, double-consonant-long-preceding-vowel rule is a valid one: Maltese/mess; meter/better; puling/pulling.
(with plenty of exceptions, English being English, as you say.)

(edit: spelling correction)

The spelling of LaGuardia Fiorello, the flamboyant mayor of New York City (who actually had a successful Broadway musical written about him, Fiorello!), may have something to do with cementing the double-letter Italian spellings in the USn mind (and imagination).

How come everybody is spelling the dear lady's name wrong?

And this...punchinello...from A.W.A.D. 7/4:

punchinello (pun-chuh-NEL-o) noun

1. A short, fat buffoon, principal character in an Italian puppet show.

2. A grotesque person.

[From Italian (Naples dialect) polecenella (a character in Italian puppet
shows), diminutive of pollecena (turkey pullet), ultimately from Latin
pullus (young chicken). From the resemblance of punchinello's nose to a
turkey's beak.]

"Unlike Mr. Donahue, she doesn't automatically sympathize with every
oddball and Punchinello who feels mistreated by `straight society'
(a phrase, believe it or not, that still rolls off Mr. Donahue's
tongue)."
Martha Bayles, Oprah vs. Phil: Warmth Wins Out, The Wall Street Journal
(New York), Jan 26, 1987.

This week's theme: words derived from fictional characters.

there is also Cinderella, (and i think in the italian she is cinderela, single ell.) EA

Hmmm.

Hmmm

Cenerentola

Cenerentola indeed .. because of
Cenere = dust ( she was cleaning the fireplace, do I remember well?)

Cenerentola indeed

I googled cinderella opera.

My secrets revealed

And in Spanish, she is known as Cenicienta, ceniza meaning ashes from the latin cinis.