Literal translation
my blood did a somersault
Meaning
my blood ran cold, I was shocked instantly
Explanation
This expression describes a sudden, violent emotion, a shock so intense that it feels as though the blood itself, inside the body, performs a violent, disorderly motion. The literal image rests on the compound word viro-passo, meaning a somersault, a complete, abrupt turn upon itself: applied to the blood, this motion conveys the very concrete physical sensation of an inner jolt, as though the whole circulatory system had suddenly been turned over, upended by surprise or fear. The simple past faguè, did, anchors the expression in the account of one precise, punctual instant: it is always a brief, dated event, a sudden fright, unexpected news, a narrowly avoided danger, that triggered this lightning reaction. The expression joins, in its mechanism, other bodily phrases in this set, such as heart-beating or the dried-up liver, but chooses an image of motion, stressing the overturning, momentary nature of the shock.