Dangerous goods in Italian

The eighth entry is il divieto di carico comune, and its formula is worth taking whole, because the two languages build a prohibition out of different parts. Italian puts a noun first and a noun of the act after it: divieto di transito, divieto di sorpasso, divieto di balneazione, divieto di scarico. English puts a bare negative first and an -ing form after it, which is a noun in disguise: « No entry », « No overtaking », « No swimming », « No dumping ». Neither names who forbids or who is forbidden, which is why both fit on a sign. Two things follow. The first is that the Italian second element is usually a noun cut from a verb, so the verb is there to be found: il transito from transitare, il sorpasso from sorpassare. The sentence form keeps the verb outright, è vietato fumare, while the noun form goes on the sign. The second is that this entry departs from the pattern: after di stands carico with an adjective hanging off it, a thing rather than an act, so what follows is not a sign but a rule of stowage — which substance may not travel beside which.