I discendenti di Nearco. L’ipponomastica tra arte e letteratura

In a chapter of his book The Savage Mind (La Pensée sauvage, 1962), Claude Lévi-Strauss classifies those animal species that are usually given proper names – birds, dogs, cattle and horses – and argues that the act of naming is connected with the particular kind of human-animal relationship. Starting from Lévi- Strauss’ argument, this paper focuses on one of the subclasses analysed by the anthropologist – thoroughbred racehorses. Although subject to certain guidelines, their names often seem bizarre, and also related to the life story of the owners, who often draw inspiration from the visual arts, literature, and music, as some examples will show.