“Tantos nombres ay de diversydad de vinos e de «potajes»…”. Gallicisms Referring to Food in Medieval and Renaissance Spanish and Catalan

Abstract

The first Gallicisms in the food and culinary lexicon of the Peninsular languages can be detected since the Middle Ages, although their diffusion itineraries are sometimes difficult to determine. The present paper aims to delimit different categories of loans —literary, characteristic of cooking techniques, usual in general language, etc.— and to highlight the importance of the Catalan and Valencian cuisine not only for the formation of the Spanish food vocabulary but also for the transmission of French terms into Spanish.