The evil eye. An account of this ancient and wide spread superstition

I JETTATURA SOSPENSIVA 19
assuredly miss it. If you are going to see a friend
by appointment you will find him out ; if a friend is
coming to see you he will be disappointed."
" How is your case getting on ? " we once said to
a Neapolitan friend, who was engaged in a troublesome
litigation ; "it was heard yesterday, was it
not ? " " No," replied he, very crestfallen ; " on my
way to the Court I met Mr. C , and he has a
jettattcra sospeusiva, so I knew what would happen
my case was adjourned sine die.''
It may be mentioned en passant, that in Tuscany
the influence is called affascinaviento, or mal d'occhio ;
while in Southern Italy jettahira is the common
term. In Corsica,^*^ however, where the belief is
universal, it is called Innocchiatura. In other parts
of Northern Italy it is known by several names,
which seem to include all the varied influences
of fascination, as well as those of the evil eye
especially.^'
Valletta records^^ that a servant of the Duke of
Briganzio caused a falcon to drop down dead, con
occhijettatori. Also that it is registered in the Acts
of the Academy of Paris that a dirty old hag
[vecchiaccia) in 1739 went near and paused before a
highly polished mirror, which, from her glance,
absorbed so much greasy matter [grassztnie), that
collected together it was proved to be a very powerful
poison. Finally, he says, there was one who by
"^ Valletta, Cicalata sul Fascino, p. 9.
^^ In a note to the preface of an edition in the writer's possession of
Capricci siilla Jettatura, de Gian Leonardo Marugi, Napoli, 1S15, is the
following :— " Se questa Operetta capitasse nelle mani di un Italiano piu set-
tentrionale, piacemi d'avvertirlo che Jettatura suona lo stesso, che stregoiieria,
soriilegio,fait»cchieria,'" etc. " Questo vocabolo Napoletano e de buonissima
lega, e I'etimologia n'e chiara. Viene dalla frase latina jacere sortes, gettar
le sorti, incantare, ammaliare, e qiiindi i maliardi, o Jettatori."
^ Cicalata, c. 12, pp. 55, 59
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