A valuable guide to address the reading of the Divine Comedy; almost a small encyclopedic register, a vademecum on the places, the 913 characters, the census of the proper names mentioned (also through nicknames, epithets or allusions); the terms scientific, philosophical, technical… with a series of tables aimed at giving a figurative representation of the cosmos of Alighieri. The first volume of Dictionary of the “Divine Comedy” (AL) by Enrico Malato, emeritus professor of Italian literature at the Federico II University of Naples. This is the fourth title in the “Dante” series, created in collaboration with Salerno Editrice for the 700th anniversary of the poet’s death.
«The idea of the Dictionary was born from the need to contain the Divine Comedy within the limits of space established – explains to the «Corriere» Malato, who is president of the Scientific Commission responsible for the National Edition of Dante’s Comments, creator and coordinator of Necod (promoted by the Pio Rajna Center) -, in an obligatory relationship, on every page , of restricted notes in a size not exceeding that of the verses, and yet at the same time maintain the commitment to offer a comment suitable for allowing full understanding of the text, compatibly with the aforementioned obligations. Therefore it was decided to refer the profile of the characters to an external space ». The philologist continues: “It then seemed appropriate to use that space also for an in-depth study of complex issues, doctrinal, astronomical, historical-mythological, linguistic … Thus the” archive “took shape, it was enriched with the recording of the most notable linguistic voices or any interesting title, and here’s the Dictionary. Which certainly imposes a little discomfort on the reader, who is obliged to look in another volume for additional information of the gloss to the passage he is reading. But this is a minor disturbance, optional, because the gloss gives the essential information to understand the letter of the text, and in any case compensated by the advantage that derives from it: because the reader finds more extensive information, connected to other similar ones than to footer it would not be possible to give, and above all it finds, as a whole, a thematic and lexical repertoire that easily allows any search. A small “Dante’s encyclopedia”, handy and easy to consult, which is a “miracle” in the restricted areas in which it was possible to contain it ».
In Dictionary there are quotations and curiosities, such as those on the terms of the Comedy that we still use, given that about a third of the words of the language we speak go back to that directly, or indirectly. Among these, for example, are the idioms such as “making the veins and wrists tremble” that appears in the first canto of theInferno (“To have tremors out of fear,” explains the Dictionary); or “bel Paese” (from the invective against Pisa in canto XXXIII ofInferno, to indicate Italy, the country where «the language of yes» is spoken: «(i) the beautiful country where the yes sounds». And there is also “what has been done”, explained under the heading “Mosca (de ‘Lamberti)”, a member of a Ghibelline family, damned in the 9th bedlam among the sowers of discord. When Buondelmonte de ‘Buondelmonti fails to make his promise of marriage with a girl from the Amidei, Mosca intervenes in a family council and pronounces the sentence, intended as an invitation to kill Buondelmonte («Remember you also about Mosca, / which I said, lasso! : “Capo has thing done”, / which was badly suited for the Tuscan people) »: a fact that was at the origin of the struggles between the families of Florence.
Among the words and locutions that have come down to us is the famous “galeotto fu” of canto V dell’Inferno. Explain the Dictionary: «Galeotto: Galehault, the one who, in the Arthurian novel Lancelot of the Lake, made clear the love between Guinevere and Lancelot, already discovered by the lady of Malehaut, inducing the queen to kiss the knight (assumed therefore as a synonym of pimp for illicit loves) ». Or there are words that have taken on a different value, as in the case of “gentile”: noble (“Latin gentilis, gives people, “Which belongs to the same people, lineage”): “Love, ch’al cor gentil ratto learns”; “Kind-looking” (referring to Manfred of Swabia, Purgatory, III); or from “late Latin gentilis, used in the plural with reference to people, “Rural villagers”, i morning, from which they pay ». And the expression “pan per focaccia” is already in Dante (Inferno, XXXIII) in a similar form: friar Alberigo dei Manfredi of Faenza, having entered into disagreement with relatives, invites them to lunch by staging a reconciliation; but at the signal to bring the fruit (“I am that from the fruit of the bad garden”), he calls in some assassins to kill them. Alberigo is damned among the traitors of his relatives in Ptolomea, where he says: “Here I take date for cool”, that is, he is severely repaid for what he did.
In «la Lettura» # 412 of 20 October 2019 a visual date by Giulia De Amicis, with an article by Paolo Di Stefano, has calculated that the most used word in Comedy it is “eyes” (occurs 212 times); the Dictionary devotes ample space to the word: from the organ of sight («that [Beatrice] whose beautiful eye sees everything “; that is, the future), to the intellectual vision (“before the eyes”; the eyes of the mind), to the expression of feeling (“his eyes shone more than the star”). And then the «eyes of bragia», «sinister», «alive», «wrong»… The Dictionary yes, it is a fundamental tool for understanding the Comedy; but it can also be a stand-alone reading for enthusiasts who want to go in search of curiosities and unexpected anecdotes.
The volume on newsstands: to know, to have fun
The fourth volume of the Dante series, created in collaboration with Salerno Editrice, is on newsstands from 13 April with the «Corriere». The series collects 18 titles (at a price of € 7.90 plus the cost of the newspaper) with the works of Alighieri and the essays by leading scholars dedicated to the poet. After the release of The divine Comedy, divided into three volumes, one for each canticle, now arrives on newsstands on Dictionary of the “Divine Comedy” (AL) (the second volume goes to newsstands April 20) by Enrico Malato, philologist, literary critic and historian of literature, who also signs the last three titles. An essential work tool for consulting Dante’s text, which provides information on characters, places, mythological, historical, astronomical references, the philosophical and technical lexicon. Among the upcoming releases: The new life and the rhymes (April 27); The Convivio (May 4); the first essays to go to newsstands are: Dante and the Medieval Beyond by Alison Morgan (May 25); Dante philosopher and poet by Rocco Montano (June 1st) e The numbers in the “Divine Comedy” at Manfred Hardt (June 8).
April 11, 2021 (change April 11, 2021 | 21:38)
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