Microfinance

The eighteenth entry is la microassicurazione, and the verb hiding inside it is one place where English is the language with too many words rather than too few. Assicurare does four jobs at once. It writes a policy: assicurare la casa contro l’incendio. It gives somebody your word: ti assicuro che il bonifico è partito. It makes an outcome certain: assicurare la continuità del servizio. And it makes a thing physically fast: assicurare il carico al pianale. English keeps a separate verb for each, and the four sit close enough in shape to be picked at random — « to insure », « to assure », « to ensure », « to secure ». The sorting rule is short enough to learn once. « Insure » wants a premium behind it, « assure » wants a listener, « ensure » wants a result, « secure » wants a rope. British usage adds one more turn of the screw, because « life assurance » is a policy and not a promise, a survival of the older habit of assuring a life and insuring goods. So la microassicurazione is microinsurance, with an i, and nothing on this page assures anybody of anything.