Entomonimi popolari: ipotesi classificatorie

Popular insect names: classification hypothesisThis article deals with the perception and the construction of the ethnozoological dominion “insect” among southern Italian people (Calabria). Data are obtained through open interviews carried out in a period of about six years. As already stated in previous works, the term ‘insect’, in most human societies, denotes a broader taxonomic category that includes organisms such as bats, snakes, toads, spiders, lizards, scorpions, even ‘wugs’ (worms plus bugs), that is species which are not strictly included in the Linnaean class Insecta. Morphological and utilitarian criteria which prevail in classification of other animals, such as fish and farming animals in general – because of ther dimension and importance for human nourishment – are not so dominant in the insect world. Instead, as demonstrated through the analysis of the collected data, they are of incidental importance in the insect dominion. As a matter of fact, insect ethnoclassifications are best understood when considering the use of multiple criteria which include for example: morphology and dimension, the habitat of the species, their behaviour, the way they move, their noxiousness for humans and crops, the relationship between insects and human beings, etc. Analysing the data collected in Calabrian varieties and communities, it seems that the pattern of ethnozoological classification also includes feelings of noisomeness, danger, disgust and disdain towards insects and towards some non-insect animals. Many metaphors presented highlight these negative aspects associated with insects as well as other dimensions commonly at work in the ethnoclassification of these animals.