Everything started after an eight-year-old student used the word “petaloso” – whose English equivalent would be “petalful” – during an exercise on adjectives. His teacher, Margherita Aurora, who made headlines last summer after a public call against homework during the holidays, said she liked the word and decided to send it to the Crusca Academy for evaluation.
Then she has received the approval of the Florence-based Crusca Academy, a linguistic watchdog dedicated to protecting and researching the Italian language. The prestigious organization gave its seal of approval with a letter to the student.
“The term you have invented is a well-formed word,” the academy said in a letter, explaining that in order for a new word to become part of the current vocabulary it needs to be “used by many people and for many people to understand it”.
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