Macaronic language is a type of expression that mixes different languages, especially when bilingual puns are used or when languages are combined in the same situation instead of being separated into different parts of a text. Hybrid words are similar because they mix parts of different languages within a single word. In spoken language, code-switching happens when someone uses more than one language or dialect during the same conversation.
Macaronic Latin is a specific type of mixed language that uses everyday words with Latin endings or combines Latin words with everyday language in a way that is not clear or organized (this is similar to "dog Latin," which is also a mix of languages but not properly formed).
The word "macaronic" comes from the Italian word "maccarone," which means "dumpling," a type of food that was once considered simple or rough. The term is often used in a way that is not respectful, especially when language mixing is meant to be funny or criticize something. However, it can also be used for more serious writings that mix languages.
History
During the late Middle Ages, some texts in Europe combined Latin with everyday languages. At this time, Latin was still the main language used by scholars, religious leaders, and university students. However, poets, musicians, and storytellers increasingly used common languages instead.
An early example is from 1130 in the Gospel book of Munsterbilzen Abbey. One sentence mixes late Old Dutch and Latin:
Tesi samanunga was edele unde scona et omnium virtutum pleniter plena
Translated: This community was noble and pure, and completely full of all virtues.
The Carmina Burana (collected around 1230) includes poems that mix Latin with Medieval German or French. Another famous example is the first stanza of the carol In Dulci Jubilo, which originally (written around 1328) combined Latin, German, and a bit of Greek. While some early works used the language mix for humor, many used it for poetic effect.
In the Middle English Towneley Plays (around 1460), the character Pontius Pilate gives a rhyming speech that mixes English and Latin.
Some 14th-century English political poems alternated lines of Middle English and Latin, such as in MS Digby 196:
The taxe hath tened [ruined] vs alle, Probat hoc mors tot validorum…
The Kyng þerof had small fuit in manibus cupidorum…
Several anthems also mix Latin and English. In Nolo mortem peccatoris by Thomas Morley, Latin is used as a refrain:
Nolo mortem peccatoris; Haec sunt verba Salvatoris.
Translated: I do not wish the death of the wicked; These are the words of the Saviour.
The Scottish poet William Dunbar used the phrase Timor mortis conturbat me ("The fear of death disturbs me") as a refrain in his work Lament for the Makaris.
The term macaronic likely came from Padua in the late 15th century, possibly from maccarona, a type of pasta eaten by peasants. The word is linked to Macaronea, a humorous poem by Tifi Odasi written in mixed Latin and Italian, published in 1488 or 1489. Another example is Tosontea by Corrado of Padua, published around the same time.
Tifi and his peers used macaronic Latin to mock the broken Latin used by doctors, scholars, and officials. While some used it out of ignorance or carelessness, others tried to communicate with common people without using their language.
An unusual example is Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499) by Francesco Colonna. This book used Italian grammar and structure but included made-up words based on Latin, Greek, and other languages. Unlike Tifi’s work, it used the mix for artistic purposes, not humor.
Tifi’s Macaronea became popular, and writing humorous macaronic Latin texts became a trend in the 16th and 17th centuries, especially in Italy. One example is Baldo by Teofilo Folengo, who called his work a "rude mixture of flour, cheese, and butter."
Macaronic verse is common in places with many bilingual people, such as Ireland before the mid-19th century. Songs like Siúil A Rúin mix English and Scottish Gaelic. In Scotland, Highland immigrants to Glasgow used English and Gaelic to express feelings of being outsiders. An example:
When I came down to Glasgow first, a-mach air Tìr nan Gall. I was like a man adrift, air iomrall 's dol air chall.
Translation: When I came down to Glasgow first, down to the Lowlands (lit. "out to the land of foreigners"). I was like a man adrift, astray and lost.
In the Andes, folk music often mixes Spanish with local languages. In Classical Persian poetry, some works alternated Persian and Arabic, such as those by Saadi and Hafez. These were called molamma'. In Anatolia, Rumi sometimes mixed Persian with Arabic, Turkish, and Greek.
In medieval India, Muslim rulers influenced poetry that combined Hindi and Persian. This style helped create the Urdu or Hindustani language, used by poets like Amir Khusro.
Sometimes, language becomes macaronic by accident. A famous example is a Greek sentence from Xenophon, which, when mispronounced in French, sounds like a joke:
Où qu'est la bonne Pauline? A la gare. Elle pisse et fait caca.
Translation: Where is Pauline the maid? At the [railway] station. She's pissing and taking a shit.
Modern macaronic literature
Macaronic text is still used by modern Italian writers, such as Carlo Emilio Gadda and Beppe Fenoglio. Other examples appear in the character Salvatore from Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose and the peasant hero in Baudolino. Dario Fo’s Mistero Buffo includes sketches that mix languages in a playful way.
The 2001 novel The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt includes parts in Japanese, Classical Greek, and Inuktitut, though most of the text is in English.
The literary group Oulipo uses macaronic techniques by replacing phrases with similar-sounding words from other languages. One example is François Le Lionnais, who changed John Keats’ line “A thing of beauty is a joy forever” into “Un singe de beauté est un jouet pour l’hiver” (“A monkey of beauty is a toy for the winter”). Another example is the book Mots d’Heures: Gousses, Rames: The d’Antin Manuscript.
Macaronic language is a key feature in The Trilogy by Henryk Sienkiewicz and in James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake.
In Michael Flynn’s Spiral Arm series, a fictional future shows people from different Earth cultures mixing languages to create new, blended forms of communication. Each planet in the story uses a unique mix of languages in daily conversations.
Examples of non-humorous macaronic poetry include Lord Byron’s Maid of Athens, ere we part (1810), which includes Greek words, and Pearsall’s translation of the carol In Dulci Jubilo (1837), which mixes English and Latin.
A modern humorous example is the English/Latin poem Carmen Possum (“The Opossum’s Song”), used in Latin classes. Other examples include The Motor Bus by A. D. Godley and Up I arose in verno tempore.
Ezra Pound’s The Cantos includes Chinese, Greek, Latin, and Italian.
Recent examples include the mużajki (2007) by Maltese poet Antoine Cassar, which mix English, Spanish, Maltese, Italian, and French. Other works include those by Italian writer Guido Monte and the late poetry of Ivan Blatný, which mix Czech and English.
Brian P. Cleary’s book Rainbow Soup: Adventures in Poetry includes macaronic verse, such as:
“My auntie Michelle is big in the BON (As well as the hip and the thigh). And when she exhales, OUI haul out our sails And ride on the wind of VERSAILLES.”
John O’Mill, a teacher in the Netherlands, wrote comic poems mixing English and Dutch, often based on translation errors.
In the first act of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe, characters use humorous macaronic verse. For example, Lord Mountararat says:
“This gentleman is seen, / With a maid of seventeen, / A-taking of his dolce far niente…”
Lord Chancellor adds:
“As the ancient Romans said, festina lente…”
Lord Tolloller says:
“Which is English for repente…”
Later, the chorus sings:
“Our lordly style you shall not quench with base canaille! (That word is French.)
Distinction ebbs before a herd of vulgar plebs! (A Latin word.)
Tould fill with joy and madness stark the oι πoλλoί! (A Greek remark.)”
This includes one French word, one Latin word, and one Greek phrase.
In popular culture
"Macaronic language" is often used in movies, especially comedies. In Charlie Chaplin's anti-war comedy The Great Dictator, the main character speaks English mixed with fake German, such as "Cheese-und-cracken." This style was also used by Benzino Napaloni, a character based on Benito Mussolini, who used Italian food names like salami and ravioli as insults.
Other films that use macaronic language include the Italian comedies L'armata Brancaleone and Brancaleone at the Crusades (directed by Mario Monicelli). These movies mix modern and medieval Italian with Latin, sometimes in rhymes or with words from regional dialects, like those used by the Italo-Normans, who included words from modern Sicilian.
On Saturday Night Live, the character Opera Man, played by Adam Sandler, sang short parts using macaronic language.
A macaronic song uses more than one language. These songs are common in Ireland, where Irish and English are combined. They also appear in other languages, such as Yiddish and Ukrainian.
Examples of songs with macaronic language include Rammstein's "Amerika" (German and English), the Beatles' "Michelle," Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer," and The Weeknd's "Montreal" (French and English). Other examples are The Clash's "Spanish Bombs," José Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad" (Spanish and English), Bandolero's "Paris Latino," Magazine 60's "Don Quichotte (No Están Aquí)," and JJ Lin's "只對你說 (Sarang Heyo)" (Mandarin, English, and Korean).