Brand Culture Mirrored in Dictionaries: Generic Trademarks in English and Italian

This study consists in retrieving instances of trademarks – attested in the English language and at the same time used as generics in Italian – through a dictionary-based analysis in order to assess their influence on the Italian vocabulary. Starting from the multifaceted nature of trademarks, their impact on the vocabulary of the English and – as a consequence of borrowing – of the Italian language is measured through a meta-lexicographic analysis. Accordingly, dictionaries are viewed not only as mere records of words but also as inventories of culture-bound lexical items, which are witnesses of the (supposed) prestige of brand culture or trademark culture.