lazzarone

English

Etymology

From Italian lazzarone.

Noun

lazzarone (plural lazzarones or lazzaroni)

1. (historical, chiefly in the plural) One of the poorer classes of Neapolitans; a beggar. [from 18th c.]
   • 1792, Charlotte Smith, “Letter X. To Mr. Bethel.”, in Desmond. […], volume II, London: […] G[eorge,] G[eorge,] J[ohn] and J[ames] Robinson, […], →OCLC, page 121:

     What does he mean by his Rights of Man, and his equality?—What wretched and dangerous doctrine to diſſeminate among the lazzaroni* of England, where they are always ready enough to murmur againſt their betters?

     * Lazzaroni, a word deſcriptive of people reduced to the utmoſt poverty and wretchedneſs.

   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 255:

     […] attended by one or two of his band, who intended leaving off business and turning lazzaroni, they all set off for Naples, which they found in an uproar.

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “A Marriage and Part of a Honeymoon”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 189:

     […] Brighton, a clean Naples with genteel lazzaroni—[…]

   • 1903, Henry James, The Beast in the Jungle:

     Marcher said to himself that he ought to have rendered her some service - saved her from a capsized boat in the bay, or at least recovered her dressing bag, filched from her cab, in the streets of Naples, by a lazzarone with a stiletto.

French

Noun

lazzarone m (plural lazzarones)

1. lazzarone

Further reading

• “lazzarone”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Alternative forms

• lazzerone

Etymology

From lazzaro +‎ -one.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lad.d͡zaˈro.ne/
• Rhymes: -one
• Hyphenation: laz‧za‧ró‧ne

Noun

lazzarone m (plural lazzaroni)

1. scoundrel, rogue
2. (obsolete) leper

Descendants

• → English: lazzarone

Further reading

• lażżaróne in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana