Ricerc@Sapienza

Tullio De Mauro, a pupil of the well-known glottologist Antonino Pagliaro, had an importanti role in the histiry not only of Italian linguistics, but also of the philosophy of langage, First official professor of the discipline, he tried to give a theoretical answer to the questoions left open by the researchers of the 1940a and 1950s on the social component of language, on the interpretation to be given of Saussure's thought, on the function of semantics in a semeiological perspective.

Gilbert of Poitiers (Gilbertus Pictavensis, Porreta, Porretanus; after 1085 - 1154) was a master of arts and theology at Chartres and Paris. He was a profound and original thinker, famous in his time for the complexity and boldness of his philosophical theology. His most important work is a Commentary on the Opuscula sacra of Boethius. He provoked both violent disapproval and great enthusiasm. Brought to trial for heresy in Reims in 1148, he came out of it without being condemned.

This paper reviews a recent book consisting in a new translation of some chapters of Paul’s Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte and some critical studies commenting and comparing the theories advanced by Paul with today’s linguistic theories. One of the aims of the paper, besides illustrating the merits of this beautiful volume, is to widen the comparison also to the less known general theories advanced by Italian linguists.

As director of the Typographia Medicea, based in Rome (1584-1614), Giovanni Battista Raimondi (c. 1536-1614) developed his linguistic knowledge and projects in a period of expanding geographical and linguistic horizons, specifically in the Papal States, but also more broadly in Europe. In a series of manuscript notes, Raimondi evaluates and elucidates different languages’ qualities of excellence, especially those of Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian.