Il Tauros - aspetti fitonimici e toponomastici

1 Introduction Southern Italian History is characterized by the presence of different cultures that followed each other over the centuries. All the ethnic groups that settled in Calabria left some trace behind them, that is still visible through toponomy and language. In this work we analize the subregion that took the name of “Turma delle Saline” or “Aulinas”, now called “Piana di Gioia Tauro”. First of all will be given historical news, dealing with religious history, and what different dominations could produce, viz. different types and degrees of bilinguism. The most important centre of the Aulinas area was Taureana. Many suppose that it was founded during the Magna Graecia period. It was certainly a rilevant religious centre. The documentation found about Tauriana helps us to understand language complexity. In fact many inscriptions have been discovered, demonstrating the use of two languages, Latin and Greek, over the same period, the only Palaeo- Oscan being found on clay stamps. The focus moves from Taureana to Taurianova, which name derives from the former. Taurianova assumed this name at the beginning of the twentieth century, when the old centers of Radicena and Iatrinoli were unified. It follows the study conducted on the plant names. Showing plant pictures and plantsto Taurianova inhabitants, but also to others living nearby, they were asked to say if they recognized them and what names they used for each plant. The same was done with mushrooms. It’s interesting