...nto the Italian libretto of Nicolai's opera involves some very amusing lingual oddities. Nothing seems less adapted to the soft Italian tongue than the vigorous, coarse English of this play. Thus Jack Falstaff is translated into Sir Giovanni Falstaff; the "Merry Wives" are le mogli scherzanti; and Falstaff's cry for "sack" is rendered ola da ber portato — dov'e l mio sack?