Abstract

The essay proposed here aims to investigate the linguistic possibilities of the reference of the term meat to fish. Meat and fish, in fact, represent two elements that have always been in opposition, so much so that they cannot coexist, in some cases, in the same preparation. The Romans were discreet consumers of fish; with the advent of Christianity, different days were instead established on which to consume the two foods (giorni di grasso for meat and giorni di magro for fish). From the Renaissance onward until the nineteenth century, however, fish became the great protagonist very elaborate recipes. We will try to first understand the cultural nature of this opposition, and then to show that, on a linguistic level, the word meat can also refer to fish if certain communicative needs exist. For this purpose, we will examine various examples from different texts, specifically those on cooking from the origins to the unification of Italy, consulted in the database of the AtLiTeG project.