Alcune osservazioni sul contributo di Gerhard Rohlfs alla linguistica balcanica. Con particolare riferimento al lessico zoonimico in àmbito pastorale

The author analyzes the contribution offered by Gerhard Rohlfs to the studies of Balkan linguistics, in particular as regards the pastoral lexicon in Balkan, and in Greek and Romance varieties in contact in southern Italy. In particular the zoonyms referring to the Caprine subfamily (Caprinae) are compared in the two linguistic areas. Zoonyms show a great variability at the interdialectal, intradialectal, and idiolectal level and reflect a taxonomy characterized by an internal hierarchy that includes specializations related to gender, growth stages, external characteristics of animals, such as color, any defects or physical peculiarities useful to distinguish each member of the flock.