In the tradition of mock-Latin, Etceteini was a late twentieth century coining created to refer to the ecosystem of the numerous small-volume Italian sports & racing cars built in the early post-war years. A portmanteau word, the construct being etcete(ra) + ini, the idea was to summon the idea of “many, some obscure” with an Italianesque flavor. Credit for the coining is claimed by both John de Boer and Stu Schaller. Although in wide informal use in the collector car community and appearing often in specialist glossaries, registry websites, and niche discussion forums, no mainstream dictionaries have yet acknowledged the word.
by Unattached nihilist July 10, 2025