An important section of Marco Polo’s Devisement dou monde is devoted to the description
of the magnificence of Qubilai’s court. The traveller was particularly impressed by the splendour of
the large vessel that contained the alcoholic drinks served to the guests attending the Khan’s banquets.
To describe this wonderful artifact, the Franco-Italian version transmitted by the manuscript
BnF fr. 1116 chooses the word peitere, which is a deformation of the Venetian form pitèr/pitèra,
designating ‘an earthenware vase’, ‘a jar’. It also possible that the choice of this term was influenced
by the word pitare, attested in the ‘Levantine French’ used in Cyprus during the late Middle Ages to
designate ‘a large earthenware vase’, ‘a large jar’ for conserving wine.
