Portugiesische und italienische Filiationen in der frühneuhochdeutschen Lexik des Indien-Handels

Abstract The “Bericht über Portugiesisch-Afrika und Ostindien”, which was probably written between 1512 and 1519, is one of the few German-language documents from the early period of European and especially Portuguese trading activities in India and Southeast Asia. With regard to the lexicon, the text is far richer than all other German-language reports from the early years of the Portuguese expansion. As a consequence of the complex historical interrelations between the various nations involved in the oriental trade, the “Orient-Bericht” contains numerous borrowings from Italian and Portuguese as well as – through Indo-Portuguese mediation – from Arabic, various Indian languages and Malay. As many of these words have not yet been examined in the light of modern research, the text is highly interesting for both German and Romance historical lexicology and lexicography.