Linguistic Theories in Dante and the Humanists: Studies of Language and Intellectual History in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy

285 Pages·1997·29.22 MB·English

by  Angelo Mazzocco

BRILL'S STUDIES
IN
INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
General Editor
A.J. VANDERJAGT, University of Groningen
Editorial Board
M. COLISH, Oberlin College
J.I. ISRAEL, University College, London
J.D. NORTH, University of Groningen
H.A. OBERMAN, University of Arizona, Tucson
R.H. POPKIN, Washington University, St. Louis-UCLA
VOLUME 38
LINGUISTIC THEORIES
IN DANTE
AND THE HUMANISTS
Studies of Language and Intelkctual History
in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy
BY
ANGELO MAZZOCCO
τ
• S
EJ. BRILL
LEIDEN · NEW YORK · KÖLN
1993
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mazzocco, Angelo.
Linguistic theories in Dante and the humanists : studies of
language and intellectual history in late Medieval and early
Renaissance Italy / by Angelo Mazzocco.
p. cm. — (Brill's studies in intellectual history, ISSN
0920-8607 ; v. 38)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9004097023
1. Linguistics—Italy—History. 2. Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321-
-Contributions in philosophy of language. 3. Humanism—Italy.
4. Language and languages—Philosophy. I. Title. II. Series.
P81.I8M39 1993
410\945—dc20 93-21469
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufhahme
Mazzocco, Angelo:
Linguistic theories in Dante and the Humanists : studies of
language and intellectual history in late Medieval and early
Renaissance Italy / by Angelo Mazzocco. - Leiden ; New York :
Köln : Brill, 1993
(Brill's studies in intellectual history ; Vol. 38)
ISBN 90-04^09702-3
NE:GT
ISSN 0920-8607
ISBN 90 04 09702 3
© Copyright 1993 by E.J. Bull, Leiden, The Netherlands
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
to my father and in memory of my mother

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments Κ
Bibliographical Note XI
Abbreviations ΧΙΠ
Introduction 3
PART ONE: THE FLORENTINE DEBATE OF 1435
I. Bruni and Biondo: Dramatis Personae
of the Florentine Debate 13
II. Dante's Linguistic Theories: Elixir Vitae
of the Florentine Debate 24
ΙΠ. Dante, Bruni, and the Beginning of the
questione delta lingua 30
IV. Dante, Biondo, and the Beginning
of Romance Philology 39
V. The Ramifications of the Florentine Debate:
The Contribution of
Guarino, Poggio and Filelfo 51
VI. The Florentine Debate and
the Unique Position of Valla 69
VII. The Florentine Debate, Alberti, and the
Reaffirmation of the questione delta lingua .. 82
PART TWO: DANTE'S THEORIES OF LANGUAGE AND STYLE
Vul. Dante's Notion of the Illustrious Vernacular:
A Reappraisal 108
IX. "La lingua ch'io parlai fu tutta spenta:" Dante's
Reappraisal of the Adamic Language
(Paradiso XXVI, 124-138) 159
APPENDICES
I. The Binomial Latina LingualGrammatica
in Dante and the Humanists 182
vm CONTENTS
II. Interconnection Between De Vulgari Eloquentia I,
xi-xv; II, vi and Purgatorio XXIV, 42-62;
XXVI, 92-123: A Clarification of the
dolce stil novo 185
ΙΠ. A Recent Contribution to the Rorcntine
Debate of 1435: Miiko TavonTs Latino,
grammatica, volgare. Storia di una
questione umanistica 189
Notes 209
Index 262
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book has been several years in the making, so there were few
who shared in its unfolding. I am deeply grateful to my colleague
Eugene Hill for his wise counsel and intellectual support from the
eariiest phases through the completion of this study and to John
Monfasani for reading the whole manuscript and for offering very
valuable suggestions. I have benefited from discussions with Paul
Kristeller, who kept me abreast of relevant literature and gener
ously supplied needed texts. Philippa and George Goold helped to
unravel some of the more intricate passages by the humanists. I
would like to thank Joan Ferrante, President of the Dante Society
of America, and the Society*s Council for inviting me to present a
segment of the part on Dante to the 1989 Annual Meeting of the
Dante Society of America and to Gian Carlo Alessio for asking
me to share some of the ideas on the humanists with his students
and colleagues at the University of Venice. My appreciation goes
also to the Trustees of Mount Holyoke College for their generous
support of the project. My deepest graditude is reserved for my
wife, Elizabeth, without whose affection and meticulous reading
and preparation of the manuscript this book would not have been
possible.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
The documentation relating to the Florentine debate of 1435:
Biondo's De Verbis Romanae Locutionis, Brum's letter to Biondo,
Guarino's De Lingue Latine Differentiis, Poggio's Disceptatio
Convivalis III, Filelfo's letters to Francesco Sforza and Lorenzo
de* Medici and Alberti's proem to the third book of the Famiglia
have been elegantly edited and published by Mirko Tavoni in his
recent study, Latino, grammatica, volgare. Studio di una ques-
tione umanistica (Padua: Antenore, 1984). All of these docu­
ments, except for Poggio's and Filelfo's, enjoy modern, revised
editions (see Tavoni, pp. 302-304). For this study I have used the
documents in Tavoni's edition. Brum's letter to Biondo, which in
Tavoni is entered as Leonardus Flavio Foroliviensi S„ is referred
to here by its better-known title, Epistola VI, 10, derived from
Lorenzo Mehus, who first edited Bruni 's letters (Leonardi Bruni
Arretini Epistolarum Libri VIII [Florence, 1741]).
For the classical works, including Augustine's De Civitate Dei, I
have used the texts published by the Loeb Classical Library.
Alessandro Wesselofsky's // Paradiso degli Alberti. Ritrovi e ra-
gionamenti del 1389. Romanzo di Giovanni da Prato (Bologna,
1867) constitutes an important source of Chapter 7. This work
consists of three volumes with the first volume being divided into
two parts. Volume I encompasses a lengthy introduction and nu­
merous documents, including invectives by Cino Rinuccini and
Domenico da Prato. Volumes II and III deal specifically with the
Paradiso degli Alberti. These volumes will be referred to as
Wesselofsky 1/1,1/2, II, and ΠΙ.