Happy Christmas, Buon Natale a tutti! Festivities, even in this dreadful Covid-19 climate, remain a time to think positive and smile. And is there a better way to celebrate that making a toast? In English, we use the word cheers, in Italy, we use cin cin (pronounced tcheen-tcheen). Cin cin is so much like cheers that the popular 1980s TV series Cheers was called Cin Cin in Italy.

It may be part of our everyday language, but cin cin has a very exotic etymology, one that for once, has nothing to do with Latin. Its origins are, apparently, to be found in the Chinese word ch’ing, “you’re welcome,” which was usually used twice in a row, giving us ch’ing ch’ing.