6

There must be a difference between "familiare" and "parente", since they are both used in the extract below, but what is it? Can "familiare" be used as "acquaintance"?

La famiglia italiana è un ufficio di collocamento per i figli: un connazionale su tre dice d'aver trovato l'occupazione grazie a familiari e parenti. Metà degli ingegneri, il 40 per cento dei dentisti e il 25 per cento dei notai hanno ereditato il mestiere dei genitori.

Improve this question
4
  • 1
    Where does this sentence comes from? The two words are pretty synonymous, and the use of both seems more rhetoric device to strengthen the concept.
    – DaG
    Commented Oct 17, 2017 at 7:21
  • 1
    Whoever wrote that text might perhaps have intended parenti e affini, which are indeed two different, legally defined, things.
    – DaG
    Commented Oct 17, 2017 at 7:37
  • 2
    It is from an article "La testa degli italiani", by Beppe Severgnini.
    – Vic
    Commented Oct 17, 2017 at 7:52
  • Maybe "familiari" refers only to the close relatives, ie. mother, father, sister, brother?
    – Vic
    Commented Oct 20, 2017 at 15:13

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
6

Familiare (or famigliare) and parente are mostly synonyms, both meaning “relative”, a member of the same family.

I am ready to stand corrected, but my impression is that the writer just intended to stress his thesis about the familist approach in finding a job, rather than distinguishing two actually different categories. It would be a kind of dittologia sinonimica, the figure of speech consisting in highlighting a concept by saying it twice using synonyms (felice e contento, canuto e bianco, passi tardi e lenti).

Moreover, the writer might have been influenced by some actual, often used, phrases as amici e parenti (“friends and relatives”) or parenti e affini (“blood and in-law relatives”).

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.