Originating in the 1580s from Italian "zanni," a Venetian form of Giovanni, zany means a clownish, foolish character, often found in old Italian comedies.

Mar 5, 2025 · No seventeenth- or eighteenth-century mountebank was complete without his zany or 'Merry Andrew' – a term originally applied to Dr Andrew Boorde, physician to Henry VIII and …

Zanni comes from a dialect nickname for Giovanni, the Italian form of John. The character quickly spread throughout European theater circles, inspiring such familiar characters as Pierrot and …

The earliest known use of the word zany is in the late 1500s. OED's earliest evidence for zany is from 1582, in the writing of George Whetstone, writer.

Today, zany is mainly an adjective meaning "bizarre" or "goofy", and that meaning was first attested in the 1610s, but for more than three decades before that it was a noun referring to a …

The adjective 'zany' has its origins in the Italian word 'zanni,' which referred to a stock character in the traditional Italian comedy known as Commedia dell'arte. These 'zanni' characters were …

Zany It is a lot older than most realise, dating back to the 16th century, and derives from the Italian zani or zanni, which is the short form of Gianni or Giovanni (John), who was always a stock …

etymology of the word zany From Italian zanni, from dialect (Venice and Lombardy) Zanni, nickname for Giovanni John; one of the traditional names for a clown. Etymology is the study …

Feb 5, 2024 · Zany entered English in the late 1500s to mean a “comic performer”. It came from French zani , and before that from Italian zanni (a zany or a clown). The word zanni was …

etymology: From French zani, from Italian zanni, a nickname for Giovanni. The term has its origin in the comedy theater commedia dell’arte popular in 16-18th century Italy.

The earliest known use of the verb zany is in the early 1600s. OED's earliest evidence for zany is from 1602, in the writing of John Marston, poet and playwright. It is also recorded as a noun …

From Middle French zani ‎, zanni, from Italian zanni ‎ ("a kind of masked clown character"), from Zanni, a dialectal form of Giovanni. Unusual and bizarre in a funny, comical way; outlandish; …

Etymology: 16 th Century: from Italian zanni, from dialect (Venice and Lombardy) Zanni, nickname for Giovanni John; one of the traditional names for a clown ˈzanily adv ˈzaniness n '

Jack-pudding "komischer Clown, Possenreißer" stammt aus den 1630er Jahren und übersetzt das italienische Zan Salcizza, eine komische Figur in Theater und Literatur (siehe zany). Jack …

It was first a noun, to describe a performer in the commedia dell’arte, an improvised Italian comic form of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. The zany was a foolish servant, a buffoon, who …

Le terme vient du français zani, lui-même issu de l’italien zani ou zanni, signifiant « un zany, un clown ». À l'origine, c'était un nom propre, Zanni, la forme dialectale vénitienne de Gianni, qui …

The word "zany" originates from the Italian word "zanni," which referred to comic servants in Italian comedy. The term evolved to describe the characteristic of being amusingly …

Originalmente era un nombre propio, Zanni, la forma en dialecto veneciano de Gianni, que es un diminutivo de Giovanni, es decir, "Juan." Así que el término zany es cognado del inglés Jack.

因此，zany与英语中的Jack有着相似的词源联系。 他总是瘦弱而纤细，心地善良，却相对无助，充满了热情、夸张的表情和灵活的动作，但也常常显得笨拙。

zany 的詞源 zany (n.) 在1580年代源自意大利舞台的老式喜劇中，有一個固定角色，這個詞來自法語 zani ，再追溯到意大利語 zani 或 zanni ，意思是「小丑，傻瓜」。