Nomi di alcuni piccoli crostacei in area napoletana

Abstract

The article presents and discusses the popular names of two small crustaceans in the Neapolitan area, scafice and spernocchia. Starting from the oldest attestations, including those found in some 16th- and 17th-century cookbooks, to the most recent ones collected in the Atlante Linguistico Mediterraneo, the geographical extension of the lexical types involved will be verified and some etymological proposals will be discussed. The study is intended to be part of the debate on the relationship between scientific and popular naming and to reflect on the role that the historical events that have characterized the Mediterranean have on the lexicon of the sea and its diffusion.