If you make even a slight effort to speak Italian, chances are you’ll have uttered at least one of these already today. But you probably weren’t aware of the strange story behind how that word came to be. Just like every other aspect of its culture, from architecture to food, every word in the Italian language bears traces of the country's long history. Here are the strange stories behind five everyday words.

Ciao - hi/bye: Probably the most famous word in the Italian dictionary, the informal greeting has been exported all over the world. But you may not have realized that it comes from the term 'schiavo' (slave). The Latin greeting 'servus humillimus' ('your obedient servant) was used when speaking with a superior, and in Venetian dialect this became 's-ciao vostro' - literally translating as 'your slave'.