Toponyms containing the word bru¨sa´da or bru¨sata are widespread in northern Italy, highlighting
the common origin and meaning of this place name in southern Switzerland and neighbouring
areas in northern Italy. In Lombardy, place names referring to the Neo-Latin brusiare have been
documented since the tenth to twelfth centuries, and family names such as Bruxa [to burn],
Bruxatus [burnt], Bruxatoris, Bruxasorex, Bruxasoricis [the burner], and Bruxaboschi [woodburner]
since the beginning of the thirteenth century. This suggests that the spread of these
words was in some way related to the deforestation that occurred in the transition phase from
the Early to the Late Middle Ages.