Sicilian: Scowl

    • The word is "funcia"; in Italian you would say "muso" (literal or figurative) or "broncio" (figurative).
     
    Thanks for such a speedy response! So "funcia" is Sicilian dialect and "muso" or "broncio" are Italian?
     
    That's right. "Muso" means "face, mug", while "broncio" means "sulk".
    "Fare il muso" and "avere il broncio" are equivalent expressions, meaning "to sulk, to be in a sulk" or alike.
     
    You are welcome.
    Just one warning: "muso" usually indicates the face of an animal. If you want to use it in relation to a person, you must be very careful, since either you are in a close confidence with them, or you seriously risk being offensive.

    On the other hand, "muso" is currently used in a few expressions, such as "fare (avere) il muso" or "a brutto muso, a muso duro" (bluntly).
     
    My father was second generation Sicilian-American and a lot of little Sicilianisms were used when I was growing up and this was one we used in that context in my Sicilian-American family too. A ‘fungia face’ and the phonetic spelling you included, meant a fussy scowl.

    Other words were figgadenia for the cactus fruit we’d eat, agita, Nunu instead of Nono etc.. it was so nice to see this post. I was just telling my partner about this phrase we used. Yours was the only reference I’ve found so far. Interesting!
     
    JVadala said:
    My father was second generation Sicilian-American and a lot of little Sicilianisms were used when I was growing up and this was one we used in that context in my Sicilian-American family too. A ‘fungia face’ and the phonetic spelling you included, meant a fussy scowl.

    Other words were figgadenia for the cactus fruit we’d eat, agita, Nunu instead of Nono etc.. it was so nice to see this post. I was just telling my partner about this phrase we used. Yours was the only reference I’ve found so far. Interesting!
    Click to expand...
    'Funcia' also means mushroom in Sicilian.

    'Fichi d'india' are my second favourite fruit, fresh figs being my most favourite. We know them here as prickly pears or Indian figs.

    Opuntia ficus-indica - Wikipedia

    'Nonnu' is what Sicilians call their grandfather. It may vary in different parts of Italy.
     
    You little ripper! said:
    'Funcia' also means mushroom in Sicilian.

    'Fichi d'india' are my second favourite fruit, fresh figs being my most favourite. We know them here as prickly pears or Indian figs.

    Opuntia ficus-indica - Wikipedia

    'Nonnu' is what Sicilians call their grandfather. It may vary in different parts of Italy.
    Click to expand...
    Slight difference "funcia" is a pout (throwing out your mouth/lips which are the funcia), "funci" is mushrooms, which is usually always plural. It's very similar in pronunciation with a very slight difference so it could easily be missed and some regionalisms might not pronounce the phonetic difference, possibly. I think mushroom, singular, was "funce" or "funciu" - the last vowel being pronounced very lightly, it's easy to miss.

    We would also say figudinu, closer to what JVadala said. From what she mentionned, she and I are probably from a same or neighbouring Sicilian province.

    "Nonnu" is the italianized version of "Nonno". It actually used to be "Nannu" before the italianization, from what I was told from the elders, which could have sounded as "Nunnu" to an English-speaker's ear.
     
    mamette said:
    When we were kids, our Sicilian father called a scowl or frown "fungia". That's the way it sounded to us, "foongia". I have been unable to find a translation. Any ideas?
    Click to expand...
    It's litterally a "pout". I saw the other comments talking about mouth and stuff and, yes, it's related. In the context, "Nun far'a funcia", litterally means "Don't pout". "Funcia" refers to the area of the mouth/lips. In English, we focus more on the eyes (scowl) or eyebrows (frown) but in Sicilian it focussed on the mouth. There was a lot of pouting in our house, my sister could pout for hours on end, so I remember this very clearly.
     
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