Per un approfondimento dei germanismi dell’Epistula Anthimi de observatione ciborum: bridum / spiss, sodinga / prue

Anthimus De observatione ciborum, a letter on dietetics written during the 6th century AD and addressed to Theuderic king of the Franks, has been debated for many years because of its particular language. Anthimus was a Byzantine physician who wrote his letter in Vulgar Latin, but he also used and adopted many foreign loanwords in his treatise. In particular, words which may be considered of Germanic origin (brado, bridum, fartalia, fenea, gavata, medus, melca, sodinga) have caused translators and commentators many difficulties, because of their non-univocal interpretation. The aim of this article is to offer a short contribution to the explanation of two of these Germanic loanwords (bridum and sodinga) by means of a comparison made between the Latin text by Anthimus and its translation in Early New High German, which, of course, can not be considered as the definite solution to their problematical interpretation, but nevertheless can show how these words were understood during the 15th century in German area.