Ripensare la lingua delFlos sanctorumcatalano

Abstract

The article represents an attempt to reconsider the exceptional linguistic status of the manuscript Esp. 44 in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, containing the Old Catalan translation of Jacopo da Varazze’s Legenda aurea. First studied by Joan Coromines, its language appeared remarkably conservative and vernacular to the great philologist, however now, more than a half-century after his judgment, the comparison with other products of what has been defined the earliest Catalan scripta leads to relativize linguistic traits of the Parisian manuscript. In particular, it is shown that the manuscript 713 in the library of the University of Barcelona is also distinguished by its linguistic features, and yet it is studied here for the first time.