Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Casanova |
CasanovaNoun1. An Italian adventurer who wrote vivid accounts of his sexual encounters (1725-1798). 2. Any man noted for his amorous adventures. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "Casanova" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1884. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Giacomo Casanova (1725 - 1798). Famous 18th century Venetian adventurer whose name has become synonymous with seduction.
Casanova's extraordinary life carried him across the breadth of Europe in all kinds of scandalous adventures which he memorialized in his "Histoire de Ma Vie"--perhaps the most fascinating source for the social history of The Enlightenment. During his travels Casanova made and lost fortunes and encountered many famous personalities such as the pope, Voltaire, Rousseau and Mozart.
Born in Venice to a family of actors, Casanova started his career in Padua where he studied for the priesthood. His licentious behaviour there resulted in expulsion whence he travelled to Rome to become the secretary to a cardinal. More scandals followed and he moved on to Venice where he made his way by defrauding wealthy socialites with occult tricks a la Cagliostro. The Inquisition in Venice convicted him of witchcraft in 1755 and he was led across the Bridge of Sighs and imprisoned in Il Plumbi ("The Leads"), a famous prison attached to the doge's palace. He escaped and fled to France where he sensationalized the exploit by a pamphlet that made him into a minor celebrity. In Paris he used the name Jacques Casanova and styled himself the "Chevalier de Seingalt". There he made a fortune by starting a lottery. This success was not to last and his restless genius led him to other countries and adventures. Impecunious at the end he retired in 1785 to become the librarian to the Count of Waldstein in the castle of Dux, Bohemia (now Duchcov, Czech Republic) where he died June 4, 1798.
Ironically, Casanova is these days considered the epitome of voracious heterosexuality. In fact, like most "rakes" in his day, Casanova had an active bisexual sex-life. While he certainly seems to have preferred women, his few relationships with men were more emotional and lasting.
External links
- http://www.dickinson.edu/~emery/Casanova.htm
- http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/casanova.htm
- Memoirs
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Giacomo Casanova."
Synonyms: CasanovaSynonyms: Casanova de Seingalt (n), Giovanni Jacopo Casanova (n), Giovanni Jacopo Casanova de Seingalt (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Casanova |
| Non-English Usage: "Casanova" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses. German (Casanova, womanizer). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | My friends call me 'Nova' as in Casanova. (American Pie; writing credit: Adam Herz) Enough about you, Casanova! Talk about her (Aladdin; writing credit: Roger Allers; Ron Clements) Wow, a fat sarcastic Star Trek fan. You must be a devil with the ladies gee, I hate to let you down, Casanova, but no receipt, no return (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) | |
Lyrics | I'm no casanova (I Can Love You Like That; performing artist: All-4-One) The Casanova legend must have been true ("Rapper's Delight"; performing artist: Sugarhill Gang) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Casanova '73 (1973) The Exotic Dreams of Casanova (1971) As Três Mulheres de Casanova (1968) Incantation of Casanova (1967) Casanova '70 (1965) | |
Song Titles | Casanova (performing artist: Levert) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Vasco da Gama's ship with gods above] / E. Casanova. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "Casanova is dead" by B M Commentary: "The Last Rose Of Casanova :)." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Author | Quotation |
Giovanni Jacopo Casanova de Seingalt | Doubt begins only at the last frontiers of what is possible. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| "Casanova" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 81.82% of the time. "Casanova" is used about 33 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 81.82% | 27 | 66,962 |
| Noun (singular) | 15.15% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Noun (common) | 3.03% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 33 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "Casanova" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Casanova | Last name | 2,000 | 4,912 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "Casanova": Casanova de Seingalt ♦ Giovanni Jacopo Casanova ♦ Giovanni Jacopo Casanova de Seingalt. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "Casanova": Gonzalez-casanova. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "Casanova"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
German | Casanova (womanizer). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | カスピ海 (casein, Caspian Sea, casserole, cassette, cassette book, cassette deck, cassette tape, catacomb, catamaran, catapult, catastrophe, caterpillar, cathedral, Catholic). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | カズノバ . (various references) | |
Pig Latin | asanovacay.(various references) | |
Thai | ผู้ชายเจ้าชู้. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Casanova" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Baranova, Caramoja, Casaneva, Casenave, cassanova, Cazanove, Kabanova, Kajanoja, Kuganov, Sazonov. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-a-c-n-o-s-v" | |
-2 letters: canvas, casava. | |
-3 letters: anoas, asana, canso, novas. | |
-4 letters: anas, anoa, ansa, avos, cans, casa, cons, naos, nova, ocas, scan, vacs, vans, vasa. | |
-5 letters: aas, ana, ava, avo, can, con, cos, nos, oca, ons, ova, sac, son, vac, van, vas. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-a-c-n-o-s-v" | |
+5 letters: concanavalins, vacationlands. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
