Common Italian expression
| Pronunciation | |
| Literal translation | To mistake fireflies for lanterns |
| English translation | To make a blunder |
| Meaning | Confusing something small for something big |
Examples
| Ti sbagli di grosso. Stai prendendo lucciole per lanterne. | You are so wrong. You are making a blunder. |
| Mi prendi forse per scemo? | Do you take me for a fool, perhaps? |
Where does this idiom come from?
Some say that it comes from the fact that the light of a firefly is very different from the light of a lantern, so it’s impossible to confuse the two. Others tell a different tale. In ancient times, the Arabs used to light up their tents with very dim lights because they didn’t have enough oil and fat to light up larger lanterns.
When they invaded Egypt in 639 AD, they came across a swarm of fireflies (sciame di lucciole) along the banks of the Nile, and since they weren’t used to such large fireflies, they mistook them for lanterns. They then thought that a huge army was ahead of them and ran away!
Prendere alone means to take, but when we add the preposition per, its meaning changes. Prendere per actually means “to mistake for” or, more literally, “to take [someone] for”.
Related lessons
- prendere (to take)
- lucciola (firefly)
- lanterna (lantern)
- per (preposition)
- prepositions
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