War, Grammar and Philology: From Leonardo to Bembo via Fortunio. (1st September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Faini, Marco
• Is Part Of: Italianist. Volume 36:Number 3(2016)
• Page Start: 375
• Page End: 391
• Publication Date: 2016-09-01
• Subjects: Giovan Francesco Fortunio -- Pietro Bembo -- Leonardo da Vinci -- wars of Italy -- grammar; Giovan Francesco Fortunio -- Pietro Bembo -- Leonardo da Vinci -- guerre d'Italia -- grammatica; Italian language -- Periodicals; Italian literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Italy -- Periodicals; 945.005
• DOI: 10.1080/02614340.2016.1225758
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0261-4340

Abstract

Abstract : This essay focuses on the context of Fortunio's Regole grammaticali della volgar lingua . It traces the origins of this work back to 1502–03, against the background of the wars of Italy and the dramatic changes taking place in Italian culture in those years. The sudden loss of a generation of humanists and the threat that war posed to Italy's cultural identity came as a shock to men of letters such as Pietro Bembo and Fortunio. Their humanistic background prompted them to see philology and grammar as a means to withstand chaos and to preserve Italy's cultural legacy. In the same years (1508–10) when Fortunio and Bembo were elaborating their ideal language based on that of the Tre Corone, Leonardo da Vinci was reflecting on the perennial evolution of language, and on how war affected it. Language was thus, in Leonardo's view, a mirror of the infinite creative power of Nature.