mal di montagna
The English phrase "altitude sickness" is mal di montagna in Italian.
mal di montagna refers to the oxygen deficiency experienced at high altitudes. Another common way to express mountain sickness is Sindrome da montagna.
Meaning: oxygen deficiency at high altitudes (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase mal di montagna is composed of mal (bad/illness), di (of) and montagna (mountain).
How does it change in a sentence?
In the phrase mal di montagna, the word mal is a truncated form of male (bad/pain) used in many compound nouns for ailments.
Did you know?
- The word mal is the truncated form of male, but in Italian, male can function as both an adverb meaning 'badly' and a noun meaning 'evil' or 'pain'.
- In Italy, mal di montagna is often distinguished from mal di quota, the latter being a more technical term used by climbers and doctors specifically for altitude-related hypoxia.
- The word montagna is a collective noun derived from the Latin montānia, which refers to a mountainous region rather than a single peak.
Examples in context
- Domani saliremo ancora più in alto, speriamo di non avere il mal d'altitudine.Tomorrow we will climb even higher, let's hope we don't get altitude sickness.
- Durante il mio soggiorno in montagna, ho sofferto della sindrome da montagna.During my stay in the mountains, I suffered from mountain sickness.
- Il mal di montagna può essere molto forte.Altitude sickness can be very strong.
- Sento un po' di mal di montagna.I feel a bit of altitude sickness.
- Devi evitare il mal di montagna salendo piano.You must avoid altitude sickness by climbing slowly.
Example conversation
Alessandro and Giulia are hiking in the Alps.
- AlessandroGiulia, ti senti bene?Giulia, do you feel okay?
- GiuliaNo, credo di avere il mal di montagna.No, I think I have altitude sickness.
- AlessandroDobbiamo scendere a valle subito.We need to go down to the valley immediately.
- GiuliaSì, mi gira molto la testa.Yes, my head is spinning a lot.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries di, montagna, CC BY-SA 4.0.
