nannu

Borrowed from Sicilian nannu.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnan.nu/

nannu m (plural nanniet or nannujiet or nannijiet, feminine nanna)

1. grandfather

   Synonym: ġidd

   • 2018, Antoinette Borg, Amina, Merlin Publishers, →ISBN:

     Imnalla għajjatlu Fredu u kellu jwaqqaf l-eloġju ta’ nannuh, għax naħseb l-istorja li kien imiss kienet li għandu xi gżira privata.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. Used to show respect when addressing old men.

   Alternative form: nann

Compare Italian nonno.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

nannu m (plural nanni, feminine nanna)

1. grandfather

   jiri comu li ganghi di me nannu ― to shake, to be unstable (literally, “to be like my grandfather's teeth”)

   li cartuleggi di so nannu ― past things (literally, “one's grandfather's old papers”)

   Chi ura di chiànciri a me nannu!

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   Cu voli a so nannu si lu preja.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   Si me nannu nun fussi mortu, ancora sarrìa vivu.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

3. Local folkloric figure personification of Carnival, a dummy resembling a devil that is lit up at the end of the festivities.

   nannu (di) Carnilivari

   mòriri lu nannu ― to burn the nannu

4. (colloquial) Term to address old men. grandpa, gramps

• → Maltese: nannu

• Traina, Antonino (1868) “nannu”, in Nuovo vocabolario Siciliano-Italiano [New Sicilian-Italian vocabulary] (in Italian), Liber Liber, published 2020, pages 2643–2644
• Pasqualino (c. 1790) “nannu”, in Vocabolario siciliano etimologico, italiano e latino (in Italian), volume 3, page 241
• Mortillaro, Vincenzo (1862) “nànnu”, in Nuovo vocabolario siciliano-italiano (in Italian), page 562