Montano – Don’t speak about me
Dear Niall,
Before I forget, I wanted to send you the transcription from the Montano sheet. You can post it as my little discovery.
Non dir di me se su di me non
sai senza di te che poi di me dirai?
Non fare ad aloro quello che a te non piace
Don’t speak about me if you don’t know about me
Without you, then what will you say about me?
Don’t do to them what you don’t like
According to my quick Google search (I just looked up the Italian words as a string), this probably derives from an anonymous aphorism, ‘Non dir di me finché di me non sai, pensa di te e poi di me dirai’ (similar to the other meaning, but more precisely, ‘don’t speak about me until you know about me, think about yourself and then you can speak about me.’) It’s interesting if this is such an old saying. More intriguingly, Google also revealed a Venetian Facebook post that said this appears inscribed on a column of the Fabbriche Vecchie in Rialto!
Anyway, interesting clues.
Cheers,
Cammy