Waste and the loop

The ninth entry is il nastro di cernita, and the word that carries it is one Italian keeps whole where English has broken it up. Il nastro is a strip of something long and flat, and that is the whole of the definition. It is the ribbon in a child’s hair, un nastro rosso. It is what goes round a parcel, il nastro adesivo. It is the tape inside an old cassette, il nastro magnetico. It is what a mayor cuts at an opening, il taglio del nastro. And it is the belt that carries rubbish past the sorters, il nastro trasportatore. English reaches for « ribbon », « tape » and « belt » by turns, and none of the three will stand in for the others: nobody cuts a belt at an opening, and no ribbon runs through a cassette. The consequence runs one way only. Leaving Italian, you have to choose, and the object decides — flat and decorative is « ribbon », flat and adhesive or recorded is « tape », endless and load-bearing is « belt ». Going the other way the choosing stops, because all three are il nastro.