Paroimia: Brusantino, Florio, Sarnelli, and Italian Proverbs From the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Proverbs are a rich archive of historical, cultural, and linguistic significance that affect genres and linguistic codes. Vincenzo Brusantino's Le cento novella (1554), John Florio's Firste Fruites (1578) and Second Frutes (1591), and Pompeo Sarnelli's Posilecheata (1684) offer insights into the fluidity of such expressions and the tight relationship between proverbs and sociocultural factors. Brusantino's proverbs introduce ethical interpretations to Boccaccio's The Decameron, Florio's two bilingual manuals provide language education in Elizabethan England, and Sarnelli's proverbs exemplify the creative and expressive potentialities of the Neapolitan dialect.

Format: Hardback
Length: 572 pages
Publication date: 15 November 2021
Publisher: Purdue University Press

Proverbs hold immense historical, cultural, and linguistic significance, profoundly impacting genres and linguistic codes. They traverse writers, texts, and communities, undergoing transformations that shape their structure and meanings. Context plays a pivotal role in defining and interpreting proverbs, as it influences their interpretation and application. Vincenzo Brusantino's Le cento novella (1554), John Florio's Firste Fruites (1578) and Second Frutes (1591), and Pompeo Sarnelli's Posilecheata (1684) serve as notable examples of how traditional wisdom and communal knowledge manifest the authors' personal perspectives on society, culture, and literature. By comparing these authors' proverbs with classical, medieval, and early modern collections of maxims and sententiae, we gain insights into the fluidity of such expressions and the close relationship between proverbs and sociocultural factors.

Brusantino's proverbs introduce ethical interpretations into Boccaccio's The Decameron, rewriting it in octaves of hendecasyllables. His text resonates with Counter-Reformation society, seeking a comprehensible and immediately applicable morality. Florio's bilingual manuals serve as valuable resources for language education in Elizabethan England, employing authentic and communicative instruction to teach Italian. Florio manipulates the proverbs' vocabulary and syntax to fit the context of his dialogues, highlighting the importance of learning Italian in a foreign country. Sarnelli's proverbs showcase the inherent creative and expressive potentialities of the Neapolitan dialect compared to languages with a more robust literary tradition. They serve as moral maxims, ironic assessments, or witty insertions, demonstrating the versatility and adaptability of proverbs across different contexts.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781612496719