It comes from the latin "vallis polis cellae", which translates to "valley
of the many cellars".
As usual, someone doesn't agree with this ethimology, maybe someday they'll
suggest another one.
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:34:38 GMT, "Vilco" > wrote:

>It comes from the latin "vallis polis cellae", which translates to "valley
>of the many cellars".
>As usual, someone doesn't agree with this ethimology, maybe someday they'll
>suggest another one.

I don't for one. Polis is Greek, so the etymology mixes Latin and
Greek.

--
Steve Slatcher
http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher

Vell dat may be but I hoit that the wine waz named for a goil, dis winemaker
vas playing hide da mortedella wid, Valerie Policella of da Treviso
Policellas.

J. Murray Fefferman as told to
"Steve Slatcher" > wrote in message
...
> On Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:34:38 GMT, "Vilco" > wrote:
>
> >It comes from the latin "vallis polis cellae", which translates to
"valley
> >of the many cellars".
> >As usual, someone doesn't agree with this ethimology, maybe someday
they'll
> >suggest another one.
>
> I don't for one. Polis is Greek, so the etymology mixes Latin and
> Greek.
>
> --
> Steve Slatcher
> http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher

"Vilco" > wrote:

> It comes from the latin "vallis polis cellae", which translates
> to "valley of the many cellars".
> As usual, someone doesn't agree with this ethimology, maybe
> someday they'll suggest another one.

<http://www.valpolicella.it/lev3.asp?ID=4&sez=Geografia>

seems to disagree with you.

M.

"Vilco" > wrote:

> It comes from the latin "vallis polis cellae", which translates
> to "valley of the many cellars".
> As usual, someone doesn't agree with this ethimology, maybe
> someday they'll suggest another one.

<http://www.valpolicella.it/lev3.asp?ID=4&sez=Geografia>

seems to disagree with you.

Maybe Mike T. could help, as my Italian is not good enough.

M.

Michael Pronay wrote:

>> It comes from the latin "vallis polis cellae", which translates
>> to "valley of the many cellars".
>> As usual, someone doesn't agree with this ethimology, maybe
>> someday they'll suggest another one.

> <http://www.valpolicella.it/lev3.asp?ID=4&sez=Geografia>
> seems to disagree with you.

It perfectly matches with "As usual, someone doesn't agree with this
ethimology", IMHO.
This article suggests the name origins from the "great bend in the Adige
river" and quotes two other towns with a similar name: Polesine and
Polesella. The problem is that this thesis is very hard to believe at: ff
you search the origin of these two town names you will discover that they do
not come from a "great bend in a river" (expecially the Adige), but are
simply derives from the name of the River Po:
http://www.rovigobox.it/index.php?ac...dvis=1&chsez=2
Il toponimo Polesella deriva da Polesel e fa riferimento al fiume Po ed è
assonante con la denominazione Polesine che deriva dal greco bizantino polys
(molto) e kenós (vuoto) che potrebbe significare zona pianeggiante,
d'aspetto insulare, compresa tra due bracci di un fiume. Il comune è situato
al confine tra Veneto ed Emilia Romagna e tra le province di Rovigo e
Ferrara a ridosso del Po .
This article explains that the town name Polesella comes from the river Po
and is in assonance with two greek words for "flat area" between two rivers.
No bends in it.

Moreover, the majority of the articles I read about the Valpolicella name
are almost all on the side of the latin origin and this is the first time I
see this version, that's why I opt for the latin name version.

BTW: the greek term "polis" had been inherited by latins a pair of thousands
years ago.
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

Steve Slatcher wrote:

>> It comes from the latin "vallis polis cellae", which translates to
>> "valley of the many cellars".
>> As usual, someone doesn't agree with this ethimology, maybe someday
>> they'll suggest another one.

> I don't for one. Polis is Greek, so the etymology mixes Latin and
> Greek.

Didn't you know that the latins used many greek words? Polis is one of
those, as thousands of others.
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

Mike Tommasi wrote:

> Steve's post made sense to me, but then I thought of the extensive
> adoption by latin speakers of everything greek from language to gods.
> The incursion of greek into latin was almost as extensive as that of
> french into english...

Expecially when we're talking about wine.

> Still, I remain sceptical of this etymology... and indeed the common
> root with Po seems more plausible to me...

I checked around the term Polesine: it is used to indicate an island on the
river Po which has became attached, with time, to one of the banks. The
Valpolicella area doesn't seem to be of that origin. Moreover, the
explanation of Valpolicella name coming from a "great bend in the Adige
river" seems wrong to me both for the river (Adige is not Po) and for the
translation of Polesine into "great bend of a river".
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

Vilco ha scritto:

> I checked around the term Polesine: it is used to indicate an island on the
> river Po which has became attached, with time, to one of the banks. The
> Valpolicella area doesn't seem to be of that origin. Moreover, the
> explanation of Valpolicella name coming from a "great bend in the Adige
> river" seems wrong to me both for the river (Adige is not Po) and for the
> translation of Polesine into "great bend of a river".

Vil, what about the word "Marani" that is in the same time tha name of
a Lambrusco grape and the Georgian word for Cellar? May be a ancient
origin from Caucasian land of the Padanian people?

;-)

Luk

Luk wrote:

> Vil, what about the word "Marani" that is in the same time tha name
> of a Lambrusco grape and the Georgian word for Cellar? May be a
> ancient origin from Caucasian land of the Padanian people?
> ;-)

Nice one
Mind this: Marani is a very common name in Emilia, from Piacenza to Ferrara.
Who knows?
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 08:57:51 GMT, "Vilco" > wrote:

>Steve Slatcher wrote:
>
>>> It comes from the latin "vallis polis cellae", which translates to
>>> "valley of the many cellars".
>>> As usual, someone doesn't agree with this ethimology, maybe someday
>>> they'll suggest another one.
>
>> I don't for one. Polis is Greek, so the etymology mixes Latin and
>> Greek.
>
>Didn't you know that the latins used many greek words? Polis is one of
>those, as thousands of others.

I knew some Roman wrote in Greek, but I cannot think of any old word
(older than television for example) or place name with a
well-documented etymology that combines the 2 languages.

But actually that is beside the point. On rereading your original
post you obviously were not refering to "polis" (Greek for city), but
the Latin "poli". Somehow an "s" crept into your explanation.

--
Steve Slatcher
http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher

Steve Slatcher wrote:

> But actually that is beside the point. On rereading your original
> post you obviously were not refering to "polis" (Greek for city), but
> the Latin "poli". Somehow an "s" crept into your explanation.

Maybe it's the genitive casus (or form) of the word? I can't remember a
nickel from my 2 old years of latin
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

Steve Slatcher > wrote:

> I knew some Roman wrote in Greek, but I cannot think of any old
> word (older than television for example) or place name with a
> well-documented etymology that combines the 2 languages.

"Automobile" is older than television, albeit slightly.

A collegue jokingly referred to "ipsokinet".

M.

Vilco wrote:

> Moreover, the majority of the articles I read about the Valpolicella name
> are almost all on the side of the latin origin and this is the first time I
> see this version, that's why I opt for the latin name version.
>
> BTW: the greek term "polis" had been inherited by latins a pair of thousands
> years ago.

Weirdly enough, this same topic arose on another wine forum, with the
following explanation offered:

"The name Valpolicella dates back to this time; it was probably given to
the valley by administrative officials of Verona, which took control of
the valley once more in the twelfth century, along the river Adige as
far as Pol (Santa Lucia di Pescantina), with tax collection and the
administration of justice in Ospedaletto and subsequently San Pietro:
then Valpolesela, valle di Pol. "

source:

http://www.valpolicella.it/eng/lev3....%20e%20cultura

Since this is an English translation of an Italian website, it would be
interesting to know how faithfully rendered this translation is. Any
takers?

Mark Lipton

Mark Lipton wrote:

> "The name Valpolicella dates back to this time; it was probably given
> to the valley by administrative officials of Verona, which took
> control of the valley once more in the twelfth century, along the
> river Adige as far as Pol (Santa Lucia di Pescantina), with tax
> collection and the administration of justice in Ospedaletto and
> subsequently San Pietro: then Valpolesela, valle di Pol. "
>
> source:
>
> http://www.valpolicella.it/eng/lev3....%20e%20cultura

So this is a third option, where Valpolicella comes from "valley of Pol".
Then there's the version with this name coming from "Polesine" (island on
the Po who attached to a bank) and the one about the "polis cellae".
Probably there's some other version out there.

> Since this is an English translation of an Italian website, it would
> be interesting to know how faithfully rendered this translation is.
> Any takers?

LOL; totally different from the origin. The section "Etimologia" says:
"...l'attuale nome di Valpolicella che altro non sembra indicare se non la
grande ansa formata dalla curva dell'Adige nel suo scorrere della Chiusa a
Parona (come del resto abbiamo per Polesella e Polesine in provincia di
Rovigo)."
Which, translated, is:
"...the current name of Valpolicella, which seems to indicate the big bend
in the Adige river while running from Chiusa to Parona (as we see for
Polesella and Polesine in Rovigo county)".
So, in english the name Valpolicella comes from Polesel (Val de Pol, where
Pol is a town), but in italian the origin is the name of the bend in the
river.
This site explains very well that there's much confusion on the origins of
the name Valpolicella
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'