Abstract

This paper provides a census of the Germanic element (i.e. Germanic languages with the exception of English) in the Italian lexicon of gastronomy. The structure of the work is a chronological one: from the ancient phase (paleo-Germanisms), through the ancient Germanic languages which have had an impact on the Italian of the first centuries (Gothic, Lombard and Franconian), the focus is moved to German for the more recent borrowings (from the 16th century on). In the paper there are also some reflections about the methods and the ways of linguistic borrowing, as well as about the deonomastic element.