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- "È un panino."
13 Comments
My Italian intuition tells me panino should literally mean "small bread". Is that correct?
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Panino is a diminutive for pane, but trust me, it means sandwich. Two pieces of bread or a split loaf/roll with food in the middle.
Edit: Everyone seems obsessed with having panino mean just a 'roll', and while it does also mean 'roll', today, in Italy, when you talk about a panino, it's almost always a sandwich.
Yes, but what's a sandwich? English sandwiches aren't the same as American ones (and we had them first...ask the Earl!)
Yes, but what's a sandwich?
Two pieces of bread or a split loaf/roll with food in the middle.
OK, maybe then it's a generation thing. To Brits of a "certain age", a sandwich is always made with sliced bread (not roll). If it's made with a sliced roll, it's a "roll"! I think I must be getting too old.
I mean, in the USA a sandwich is typically made with sliced bread. But the use of other bread-type things such as rolls or buns don't make them less of a sandwich to us.
That's certainly the etymology! Whether it still literally means that or if semantic drift has changed or expanded the meaning is a different issue.
I was in Lecce last year and went into a small store. When I asked for a panino, I was handed a small bread. I had to clarify that I wanted a panino WITH....
