El ‘Prosodion’ De Juan Gil De Zamora

The paper is a preliminary synthesis of the work-in-progress on a critical edition of the Prosodion, a grammatical treatise by Gil de Zamora (fl. 1280). It begins with a biographical sketch of the author in which his work is placed within the grammatical trends of the Middle Ages. The next section deals with problems connected with the textual transmission, the distribution, and diffusion of the work. Two branches of filiation of the manuscripts, corresponding to two grammatical schools are distinguished: an Italian (viz. the Florence and Todi MSS) and a French school (viz. the Paris and Merville MSS). Given the change in the dedication and the considerable increase of the text, which shows a doubling of the original size in the most recent MSS (Todi), it is argued that a two-fold redaction must have taken place. Special importance is attached to the analysis of the sources of and their treatment in the Prosodion. It becomes obvious that Gil de Zamora is a mere compilator of grammatical works from different sources, which he arranges, adapts, and combines without any attempt at an original contribution.

The next section of the paper is devoted to an analysis of the organization and contents of the work. It reveals the Prosodion as a modernized version of Priscian’s Institutiones, largely guided by the scholastic, rational method of Petrus Helias. The three treatises which compose the work are analysed in the following order: (a) Orthography, with a list of terms of orthographical difficulties; (b) Prosody, with a glossary of terms and problems in matters of accentuation, and (c) a Treatise concerning punctuation and pauses. The concluding portion emphasizes essential features of Zamora’s work: Its harmonizing attitude towards ‘old’ and ‘modern’ grammarians, the survival of Priscian’s doctrines in 13th-century Spain, and the practical conception of grammar as opposed to the speculative trends in Paris and Northern Europe.