Il lessico della transumanza e della monticazione in Valle d’Aosta

After having outlined the geographical, historical and economical frame of the seasonal transhumance in Aosta Valley (a practice that goes back to the prehistorical ages and deeply characterize this context also from an anthropological point of view), the contribution focuses on the emerging lexical items in Franco- Provençal pertaining to the two domains of sheep’s transhumance and, more in detail, bovine cattle drive to mountain pastures, based on first-hand data coming from linguistic resources (Atlas des Patois Valdôtains, Enquête Toponymique en Vallée d’Aoste). For this second domain, the local names for the different stages of the alp (montagne, mayen, tramaille and others) are considered, also in their relationship with place names which are no more understood. A final insight is given on the fortune of arp, a lexical item which is highly representative of the local transhumance context.