"See Naples and Die" (1741, 1788 in Italian)

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:16 AM -0400 6/17/07, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>
>In a message dated 6/17/2007 8:38:56 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
>Berson at ATT.NET writes:
>
>>Can  anyone make sense of these Google Books cites?
>
>If you mean identifying  the dates from the
>titles, why don't you try an on-line university library  catalog?
>Joel
>
>
>...
>It's a bit more than that.
>...
>The 1741 cite is in Italian, not English, so a good translation would be
>nice..
>...
>Also, Google Books doesn't let you see more than a line of the 1741
>citation. It's only been 266 years; the copyright holder is surely
>going to sue.
>Thanks a lot, Google Books. Doesn't anyone realize that the
>copyright has  expired
>here??
>...
>There's also another interpretation of the saying:
>...
>...
>...
>
>
>
>_Reminiscences of Michael Kelly, of the King's Theatre, and  Theatre Royal
>Drury Lane, Including a ... - Page 34_
>(http://books.google.com/books?id=s8AxAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA34&dq="vedi+napoli"+date:1500-1830&num=100&ie=ISO-8859-1)
>by Michael Kelly, Theodore  Edward Hook - 1826
>This Neapolitan saying has two meanings  attached to it: " Vedi Napoli e poi
>mori,"
>... Again; "  Vedi Napoli e .poi Mori," * " See Naples, and then Mnri.  ...
>...
>(FULL TEXT)
>...but I had no wish to accomplish the Neapolitan proverb,--Vedi  Napoli e
>poi mori*; _i. e._ see Naples, and then die.
>...
>*This Neapolitan saying has two meanings attached to  it:
>...
>"Vedi Napoli e poi mori,"
>"See Naples, and then die."
>Again;
>"Vedi Napoli e poi Mori,"
>"See _Naples_, and then _Mori_."
>...
>Mori is the name of a little island near Naples; which island the
>Neapolitans think so beautiful that no place after it is worth  viewing.
>
So why don't they say "Vedi Mori e poi mori"?

LH

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