genius
genius – aggettivo
If you think about it, this is a genius idea.
The zipper is a genius invention.
The team’s strategy was absolutely genius.
I thought the whole idea was genius.
She came up with what I thought was a genius suggestion.
In inglese, un sostantivo molto spesso può svolgere funzione di modificatore di un altro sostantivo: the school day, a house wine; talvolta, se la combinazione è frequente e fissa, dà origine a un nome composto: school dinner, per esempio, o house guest. A volte però un sostantivo prende un’altra strada e diventa un aggettivo a tutti gli effetti, cioè può assumere funzione attributiva o predicativa e può essere modificato da un avverbio. Un esempio rappresentativo è genius, che liberatosi dalle pastoie dei sostantivi galoppa libero come aggettivo informale col significato di ‘geniale, originale, fantastico’.
Origini del termine
La radice di genius viene dal latino gen (generare, nascere). L’uso di genius in funzione di aggettivo risale agli anni ‘20.
genius – adjective
If you think about it, this is a genius idea.
The zipper is a genius invention.
The team’s strategy was absolutely genius.
I thought the whole idea was genius.
She came up with what I thought was a genius suggestion.
It is well known that most English nouns can modify another noun: the school day, a house wine; sometimes if the combination is fixed and frequent it will morph into a compound noun: school dinner, say, or house guest. Sometimes nouns take a different route and become fully fledged adjectives, meaning that they can be used attributively and predicatively and can be modified by adverbs. One such is genius which has burst out of the straightjacket of nounhood to roam free as an informal adjective meaning clever, original, brilliant.
Origins
The root of the word genius comes from the Latin gen (to be born; to beget; to come into being). Genius has been used adjectivally since the 1920s.
