Giorgia Meloni’s Italy wants to rename electricity (www.politico.eu)

submitted 2 days ago by resipsaloquitur@lemmy.cafe to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.wtf/post/43436964

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[-] nocturne@slrpnk.net 52 points 2 days ago

The Italian government wants to change the name of the international unit of electrical potential from "volt" to "volta," to pay tribute to Italian electricity pioneer Alessandro Volta two centuries after his death.

Volta, who is credited with inventing the electric battery and discovering methane, had the "volt" named after him — but in Anglicized form.

Now, the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wants to re-nationalize it by restoring the errant "a".

[-] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago

Yeah let's rename everything with the name of the one who discovered it!

I bet that'll be fun.

[-] solrize@lemmy.ml 16 points 2 days ago

Would the plural be "volte"?

[-] Vinylraupe@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 days ago

*Voltae

[-] solrize@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 days ago

Hmm, I think Volti assuming Volta is masculine: https://connex-ita.com/plural-in-italian/

Voltae looks more like Latin. Romani ite domum!

[-] Damage@feddit.it 6 points 1 day ago

Italian here. Plural would still be Volta, because it already is in a sense. Now, for the actual words "volta" meaning vault, arch, and "volta" meaning "time" (as in "that time we did that"), then the plural is "volte".

[-] smeenz@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 day ago

Now write it out a hundred times!

[-] Chrobin@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 days ago

I do not know Italian, but I'd be surprised if a word ending on "a" were masculine. Usually, "a" indicates feminine, making the plural "e"

[-] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

Ancient Romans gobbled a lot of classical greek; the masculine -a nouns are usually greek origin (sistema, tema, problema), but they are the exception.

Volta is a proper name, though, so there wouldn't be any rules.

[-] Vinylraupe@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It would be neutrum in German. (the forbidden sex)

[-] Chrobin@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 days ago

Voltae would be Latin, in Italian, Volte is the correct plural.

[-] Vinylraupe@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

In German it would be Voltae.

[-] AzuraTheSpellkissed@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 days ago

And now let the Italian and the German far right fight over it.

this post was submitted on 29 May 2026

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