Common Italian expression
| Literally | To unload the moon almanac |
| Meaning | To be able to cover your basic living expenses |
| IPA pronunciation | /zbarˈkaːre il luˈnaːrjo/ |
Sbarcare il lunario
To make ends meet
Examples
Laura riesce a sbarcare il lunario con il suo lavoro part-time.
Laura manages to make ends meet with her part-time job
È stato difficile sbarcare il lunario dopo la perdita del lavoro, ma ce l’ho fatta.
Making ends meet was tough after losing my job, but I did it.
Where does this idiom come from?
Sbarcare il lunario can be translated as “to reach the goal of letting a year pass”. In this idiom, lunario means “year”. Sbarcare derives from barca, boat, and can also be translated as “bringing the boat to shore”.
Bringing a boat to shore means that you have made it through that year in spite of all the obstacles you may have faced. With time, sbarcare also took on the meaning of “to survive” with the meaning of “to arrive at destination”.
The lunario was a popular almanac that provided information on the phases of the moon, weather forecasts, country festivals, and fairs. Each page contained proverbs, sayings, poems, and pearls of wisdom.
Idioms with similar meanings are tirare a campare and tirare avanti la baracca.
Related lessons
- barca (boat)
- luna (moon)
- definite articles
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