I'm looking for an explaination and correct pronunciation of the
Italian slang epithet 'moolinyan' used to describe a person of color
and how exactly it is related to the proper Italian word 'melanzana'
(eggplant). This will greatly help my research. Thank you.

Hi Chris,

  Good day and thanks for your question.

  The term moolinyan is very rarely used. Its more commonly used in
the TV show, The Sopranos.

  The common term is Moolie, which is shortened from melanzana, which
means eggplant in Italian.

  Another term is Moolignon, which is the combination of moolie and
hooligan.

  The reason why moolie is referred to blacks is because the skin
colour of eggplant is black

  I hope this answers your question. If you have any clarifications,
then please don't hesitate to ask.

  Thank you for using this service and have a nice day

Cheers,
Aditya2K.

Source :: RSDB - Racial Slur Database

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Clarification of Answer by aditya2k-ga on 02 Nov 2002 12:00 PST

As far as pronunciation is concerned,

mool * in * yan

mool rhymes with wool
in is pronunced as usual
yan is pronunced like yarn with the 'r' silent

Moolie rhymes with Julie

Cheers,
Aditya2K

Although, interestingly enough, melanzana commes from "black apple",
but the other way round. So actually it's the "zana" part that means
black, not "mela".