macaronic

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

adjective of or containing a mixture of Latin words and vernacular words jumbled together

From New Latin, 1517 coinage, macaronicus, from Italian (Neapolitan dialect) maccarone (“coarse dumpling”).

As they came near to the place, he espied Tickletoby afar off, coming home from mumping, and told them in macaronic verse: Hic est de patria, natus, de gente belistra, Qui solet antiqua bribas portare bisacco. — Gargantua and Pantagruel, François Rabelais
At the beginning of the procession he had gathered vagabonds in the ruins of the Roman theatre, and had delivered to them in a macaronic language, half French and half Tuscan, a sermon, which he took pleasure in repeating: “Kings, senators, and judges have said: ‘The life of nations is in us.’ Well, they lie; and they are the coffin saying: ‘I am the cradle.’ “The life of nations is in the crops of the fields yellowing under the eye of the Lord. — The Red Lily — Complete, Anatole France

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