L’opposizione alto/basso nella toponomastica dell’area subalpina

This paper aims to study the presence and distribution of series of place names related to the concepts of ‘high’ and ‘low’ in Piedmont, seeking to point out any denotative and connotative meanings. The resources provided by the ToP-GIS system, processed in the Turin University Study Centre of Onomastics, allow a systematic appraisal of the data and an interpretation of the territory on several levels. The system interpretation is based on a diachronic approach, showing the forms of place names attributable to pre-Latin languages and to Romance varieties different from Italian. Insisting on medieval traces reveals the conservation of dialectal elements, which can help to throw light on the complexity of the semantic value of the single toponomyic items.