an adjective used as a noun, three main meanings are reported: ‘burning’ (such as smell of
burning), ‘burn’ (such as covered with burns) and ‘burnt place’ (usually corresponding to
a toponym), which in fact represents the relevant meaning for this study. As a noun, the
present meaning of bru¨sa´da emerged only in the Late Medieval (Romance) phase in the dialects
of northern Italy. From there it spread across the whole Peninsula as the Italian term
bruciare, which constitutes only indirectly an evolution of the supposedly spoken Latin etymon
brusiare [to burn].