Real
Osterlicchi
Osterlicchi is the form Dante uses to indicate Austria in the simile of the frozen lake of Cocytus, where the cold is so intense that the Danube in winter freezes to the point of allowing armies with horses and carts to pass over it.
Description
In Canto XXXII of the Inferno, speaking of the ninth circle, Dante uses the word Osterlicchi to designate Austria, employing an onomatopoeic form that evokes the crunching of ice. The form, unusual in itself, is chosen here because it falls at the end of the line, where the hard sound of the word reinforces the idea of the extreme cold of Cocytus. The simile compares this cold to that of the Danube in Austria, a river that in winter freezes so deeply as to permit the passage of entire armies with horses and carts. The phonosymbolic value of Osterlicchi is linked in rhyme with the other deformed forms of the passage (Danoia for the Danube, Tanaï for the Don, Tambernicchi), creating a phonic effect that amplifies the perception of the infernal cold.
In the text
Linked verses
1 verses| Cantica | Canto | Verso | Testo | Open verse |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inferno | Canto XXXII | 26 | di verno la Danoia in Osterlicchi, | Open verse |