Super Tuscan: A False Anglicism for Wine Lovers

Following a historical overview of Super Tuscan wines and a definition of the term Super Tuscan, which confirms its pseudo-English status, the primary aim of this study is to reconstruct the origin of this false Anglicism by considering the word formation processes involved in its coinage. In addition, by resorting to the data supplied by dictionaries and corpora of the Italian and the English language respectively, the frequency of Super Tuscan is measured, its numerous spelling variants are traced and some observations on its date of first attestation are included. Finally, this article considers the possibility that the worldwide success of Super Tuscan wines might have turned Super Tuscan from a specialised term employed by (wealthy) wine enthusiasts or professionals into a word also known and used by non-connoisseurs.