Anthroponyms and Toponyms Across Europe: From Machiavelli’s Belfagor to Belphegors Gifftermaal in Early Modern Danish

Abstract

This study aims to examine some of the most significant character and place names featured in the earliest Danish adaptation of Niccolò Machiavelli’s Favola di Belfagor. On one level, the analysis underscores the critical role these names play in reconstructing the editorial and translational trajectory that connects Machiavelli’s original narrative to its Early Modern Danish version. On another, it offers linguistic and philological insights into the names themselves, contextualizing them within the broader linguistic and cultural framework of early modern Denmark. This is achieved through a detailed examination of the distinctive features of the Scandinavian text—including its typographic and linguistic characteristics—as well as through a comparative analysis with the original Italian text and its intermediary versions.