macaronic (mak-uh-RON-ik) - adj., composed in a mixture of different languages.
Sometimes, specifically, of a word, given a mock-Latinate ending, like some of those colorful 19th Americanisms I run every so often. But more commonly, a work or speech that switches language frequently -- such as some of the Spanglish radio stations hereabouts. Borrowed in 1638 from New Latin macaronicus, in turn coined in 1517 Neapolitan dialect Italian maccarone, a kind coarse dumpling.
---L.
Sometimes, specifically, of a word, given a mock-Latinate ending, like some of those colorful 19th Americanisms I run every so often. But more commonly, a work or speech that switches language frequently -- such as some of the Spanglish radio stations hereabouts. Borrowed in 1638 from New Latin macaronicus, in turn coined in 1517 Neapolitan dialect Italian maccarone, a kind coarse dumpling.
---L.