Buying a used car

Halfway down this list stands la cinghia di distribuzione, and the middle word is the one that will mislead an English reader who thinks it has been understood already. La distribuzione does mean distribution in ordinary Italian — the delivery round, the handing out of something — but under a bonnet it names a mechanism: the valves, the camshaft that opens them, and everything that keeps their opening tied to the turning of the crankshaft. The picture inside the word is of the moment of opening being dealt out to each cylinder in turn. English looked at the same parts and named them after the clock, which is why the belt is a « timing belt » and the assembly around it is the « valve train ». Neither word survives the crossing. « Distribution belt » would puzzle a mechanic here, and la cinghia del tempo would puzzle one in Italy. Two neighbours are worth learning at the same moment: l’albero a camme is the camshaft, and la catena di distribuzione is the same job done by a chain rather than a belt, so the two are not interchangeable in an advertisement.