“Goodnight to the bucket“, Or better still“ goodnight ar bucket ”is a nice typically Roman expression that indicates a hopeless situation or a lost company at the start, generally anticipated by a”if oh well… “, which completes the saying in “If oh well … bonnotte ar bucchio“. But how did it come? Its origins are lost over time, in an intertwining between daily life, peasant culture and popular traditions.
One of the most accredited theories on the origin of the expression “Goodnight in the bucket” was suggested by linguistics and onomastic expert Enzo Caffarelliaccording to which he would try from rural world: generally the peasants went on the well To get the waterwhich was pulled up using rope tied buckets. But if unfortunately the rope broke during the operation, The bucket fell into the wellbecoming unrecoverable. In this case, “goodnight at the bucket” was exclaimed to indicate that The company had failed and there was nothing more to do.
Some Manuscripts of the 17th century They tell about a farmer who did a list of the last things to do during the day, concluding with:
“I finish feeding the animals and then goodnight (also) to the bucket!”;
that is to say “Now let’s go to sleep, to recover the bucket I think about it tomorrow“(If possible).
Another theory that makes you smile connects the saying to the domestic use of the bucket like night vasebefore the existence of the internal bathrooms. In this sense, “giving goodnight to the bucket” could be an ironic way to wish you not having to use it during the night.
There is a trace of this expression also in the Roman poetry of Giggi Zanazzopoet of late ‘800 that in his poem of 1886 “N’infernata ar national theater“He writes:
“The queen gives’ n pugno in a mirror, cala er taron and bona night ar secchio”.
This way of saying recalls the “Goodnight to the players “very similar in the meaning, which indicates the end of something or the impossibility of continuing. The expression is still alive in colloquial language, especially in the central and southern regions of Italy.
