Dictionary

tarantella en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /tæɹənˈtɛlə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˌtɛɹənˈtɛlə/ (US)

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian tarantella, a diminutive of Taranto, a town in southern Italy (but popularly associated with tarantola (“tarantula”), on the belief that the dance was variously a result of, or cure for, its bite).

Meanings

1. A rapid dance in 6/8 time, originating in Italy, or a piece of music for such a dance.
   • We learn to understand why our addled minds seize so little with precision, why they are caught up and tossed about in a kind of tarantella by headlines and catch-words, why so often they cannot tell things apart or discern identity in apparent differences. 1922, Walter Lippmann, “chapter v”, in Public Opinion:
   • The set in which they found themselves was composed of English, and Amy was compelled to walk decorously through a cotillion, feeling all the while as if she could dance the tarantella with relish. 1868–1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, Little Women: […], (please specify |part=1 or 2), Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC:
   • "A tarantella, I presume?" blandly suggested the doctor. Miss Mannersley stopped, and rose carelessly from the piano. "It is a Moorish gypsy song of the fifteenth century," she said dryly. 1895, Bret Harte, The Devotion of Enriquez:

Forms

Relateds

tarantism · tarantula

Translations (6)

cmn 塔蘭苔拉 /塔兰苔拉 (rapid dance) · cmn 塔朗泰拉 (rapid dance) · ru тарантелла (rapid dance) · fr tarentelle (rapid dance) · fi tarantella (rapid dance) · it tarantella (rapid dance)

wikipedia: Taranto