Thirty-four is 'a capa, the head. Neapolitan uses capa where Italian uses testa, keeping the Latin caput that Italian mostly abandoned outside set phrases.
The board scatters the body without any pattern: the hand at 5, the head at 34, hairs at 59, the mouth at 80. If there was ever an anatomical logic to the order, no list preserves it.
- 34
- 'A capa
- the head
- Row 31–40 of the tabellone
Where the figure comes from
Nothing on record.
Other things filed on 34
In Neapolitan life
Capa is a productive word in the dialect and half of Naples' insults run through it. It also names the skulls of the Fontanelle cemetery, the capuzzelle, which devotees adopted and prayed for — and, according to the tradition, asked for lotto numbers in dreams.
34 in the smorfia — frequently asked
Neapolitan kept the Latin caput. Italian went with testa, which originally meant an earthenware pot.
Several, scattered without any order: the hand at 5, the breasts at 28, hairs at 59, the mouth at 80. No list explains the arrangement.