MovieChat Forums > The Rose Tattoo (1955) Discussion > What exactly are horns?

What exactly are horns?

posted 20 years ago by pithylady
10 replies | jump to latest

Finally, this wonderful movie is available on DVD. I've watched it again and again believing Serafina was saying, I don't believe he took this glory I gave him and gave me whores," but the caption for the hearing impaired reads "...he gave me horns." In the scene where Serafina confronts the women outside the church she repeats this and makes a hand gesture with her index and little finger in the shape of horns over her head. I'm not familiar with the gesture or the phrase. So I assume they have their roots in Italian culture. What's the meaning?

Say what you really mean.

[–] jescci 19 years ago

Not sure myself, but I think in some latin cultures it means the person (with the horns) was cheated on.

Somebody's seen her. Somebody always sees a girl with $40,000.

[–] pithylady 19 years ago

I've been watching this board for almost a year. Thank you for answering! I assumed there was a story behind the gesture and word. Something most Italians know about and consider impolite.

Say what you really mean.

[–] propaganda21 19 years ago

In Italy, Brazil and Spanish-speaking countries, "horns" are a metaphor for suffering the infidelity of a partner, not limited to husbands in modern usage. However, the use of the term dates from the Roman empire, since legionaries returning from the war were given horns as a triumph or prize. So, the use of the term is a mockery of the husband, victorious in the battlefield, but defeated in his own bed. The gesture of the horned hand can be used to insult the cuckold; the Italian translation, cornuto literally means horned (This sometimes causes confusion in Italians who are learning English and encounter the word horny).

[–] Jeffthinx 18 years ago

When I was in Italy in the 70s, my American friends and I warned Italians about going to a Texas Longhorns football game if they were ever in America. Imagine being surrounded by thousands of people making that gesture if you didn't know any better. Ugh.

[–] janelafey 19 years ago

She's just saying that he cheated on her. It's a very ancient term. Poor Serafina. She adored Rosario's body, and then he takes up with a common tart. Just like a lying cheating man. I love that movie too, but I didn't think the husband had much between the ears. Obviously his assets were not his mental prowess. :o)

[–] Artemis-9 15 years ago

A late reply, almost unnecessary to your questions, beautifully answered below by propaganda21.

The horns gesture, and the word, meaning that the person in question was cheated by his or her sexual partner, is common to all European countries that were once under the culture of the Roman Empire, and by extension, all Latin American and African countries that were under Portuguese or Spanish colonization. Therefore, it is quite spread - as «cuckolds» did not die out by the end of the Roman Empire.

[–] ukepic 15 years ago

The idea of the horned cuckold is not confined to the Continent but also occurs in English Renaissance and Restoration drama and comedy.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] albawhall 10 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_of_the_horns

"El cornuto!"

[–] vespuccia 10 years ago

yes, it means horns, corna, it means he was unfaithful