An Italian dictionary isn't just a book about famous Italians. It can list Italian words or translate into Italian.

There are web sites with an Italian dictionary. The Italian language has 5 fewer letters than the English language. Don't look for Italian words that begin with those letters.

Here's some words from the Italian dictionary. There is the Italian word for abbot, abate. That's a person who leads a monastery. The title is common to a number of religions including Christianity. The title is also used to describe anyone who lives in a monastery.

Antarctico is also in the Italian dictionary. The English translation is Antarctic. It's the continent furthest south. It's on the South Pole. The origin from Greek means not north. That's a good explanation.

In 1959 12 nations ratified an Antarctic treaty. 46 countries currently adhere to it. The treaty prohibits military action in the Antarctic. It also prohibits mineral mining. The treaty supports science and protects the ecology. There are 4000 scientists conducting research in the Antarctic. Such information would be found in an Encyclopedia rather than an Italian dictionary.

Mafia isn't found inside an Italian dictionary. Malavita is in there. That's the underworld. Another name for the Italian mafia is the Cosa Nostra. It's Sicily's secret society. That group became powerful beginning in the 19th century. The organization followed the Sicilians to the East Coast. Today mafia isn't used just for Sicilians, it's used for all Italian organized crime.

Another word in the Italian dictionary is autoritratto. In English that's self portrait. The root auto is included – it means own self. An automobile powers itself.

A trip through an Italian dictionary is enlightening. That's because the language contains many of the groups we use for our English words, taken from the Latin or Greek.