Vegan or Vegetarian? An Investigation into the Current Usage of the Terms in English, French, Spanish and Italian

This paper aims to verify the successfulness of the definitions of the terms “vegan” and “vegetarian” in English, French, Spanish and Italian in conveying their authentic meanings. In brief, after a first research step aimed at the identification of the etymology and the original meanings of the terms in object, a comparison of their lexical definitions in three dictionaries per each language will be provided with the purpose of verifying the degree of lexicalization in each language and shedding light on the distinctive semantic traits of each term. As a matter of fact, there is still a lack of awareness about the differences between these eating practices and the related sub-categories, though, several medical and food related magazines and websites have provided their own insight into the distinctive features of the two concepts. The interest in this issue stems from the positive response these eating practices are receiving lately. Veganism and vegetarianism have emerged as alternatives to “ordinary” eating habits, especially because of an increased awareness of animal rights and the acceptance of theories considering meat as unhealthy for humans. As a matter of fact, according to the 2014 “Meat Atlas of the Friends of the Earth” and the “Heinrich Böll Foundation” there are over 375 million of vegetarians worldwide, 74 million in Europe.