In Italian "rubato" is indeed a past participle of the verb "rubare", which means "stolen".
However, as a musical term, here in Italy, it is not treated as a verb and not pluralized, the same way one wouldn't pluralize glissando, rallentando, allegro, moderato, etc. Nouns like instrument names are obviously pluralized so pianoforte will change in pianoforti, violino in violini, controfagotto in controfagotti. Giovanni -------- Giovanni Andreani www.giovanniandreani.eu >Not to mention using "pianoforti" for two or more, er, pianos! > >Aaron J. Rabushka >arabus...@austin.rr.com >----- Original Message ----- >From: "John Howell" <john.how...@vt.edu> >To: <finale@shsu.edu> >Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2011 10:50 PM >Subject: Re: [Finale] [OT] plural of rubato = rubati? > > >> At 5:16 PM -0700 3/24/11, Mark D Lew wrote: >>> > >>>>does this word actually exist? >>> >>>Technically, yes, it does exist. In Italian, "rubato" is an >>>adjective, and if that adjective happens to be modifying a plural >>>(and masculine) noun, it does indeed become "rubati" (as in >>>"gioielli rubati"). >>> >>>However, you are intending it as a noun. "Rubato" only becomes a >>>noun in English, so if you want to pluralize it, you should give it >>>an English plural: rubatos. >> >> Agreed that one should use the English plural, but I would argue that >> it is STILL being used as an adjective, even though the noun it >> modifies is understood and unstated: "tempo rubato"; "tempi rubati." >> And I think my mom, the language teacher, would have argued similarly. >> >> John >> >> >> -- >> John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music >> Virginia Tech Department of Music >> College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences >> Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240 >> Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 >> (mailto:john.how...@vt.edu) >> http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html >> >> "We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition >> of jazz musicians. >> _______________________________________________ >> Finale mailing list >> Finale@shsu.edu >> http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > > > >_______________________________________________ >Finale mailing list >Finale@shsu.edu >http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
