D. Del Bello, Forgotten Paths. Etymology and the Allegorical

Davide Del Bello, Forgotten Paths. Etymology and the Allegorical Mindset, Washington, DC:  The Catholic University of America Press, 2007, xvi-187p. 

ISBN 978-0-8132-1484-9.

Autre édition:
Davide Del Bello, Forgotten Paths: Etymology and the Allegorical Mindset, Sestante Edizioni, coll. "Bergamo University Press - Scienze Umanistiche" , 2005, 202p.

Recension par  Dunstan Lowe (University of Reading) dans Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2008.11.11

Présentation de l'éditeur:

Much has been written on allegory as a knowledge tool, i.e. as a rhetorical device that is more a philosophical forma mentis than sheer literary ornament, but similar functions historically found in pre-scientific etymologies remain for the most part uncharted. This book examines texts from classical, medieval, and Renaissance culture with the intent to trace links between etymological and allegorical ways of knowing, writing, thinking, and arguing. To be sure, the rhetorical impact of etymology in ancient and medieval scholars has long been acknowledged. Yet appreciation for such etymologies seems to have been granted invariably with reservations as to their scientific or cognitive worth. Isidore of Seville's etymologies, for instance, continue either to be cited as curious specimens of scientific antiquarianism or to be altogether dismissed on the grounds of semantic and phonological inaccuracy. The present research sets out: (1) to bring into sharper focus the hazy contours of the figura etymologica with respect to allegory; (2) to claim and assess the viability of classical and medieval etymologizing as a dynamic cognitive tool; (3) to appraise the persistence of an etymologico-allegorical modus operandi from the late Enlightenment to postmodernism.

Sommaire:

INTRODUCTION    v
Chapter 1 - THE SCIENCE OF ETYMOLOGY: FROM 'SOUND' LAWS TO
PLAUSIBLE CONJECTURES    1
1.    Etymologizing before 1900
2.    The W¿rter und Sachen Experience: Etymology between 1900 and 1950
    18
3.    De Saussure and The Arbitrariness of Signs
4.    Obscure Words: Etymologizing from 1950 to the Present
Chapter 2 - NOMEN EST OMEN: ETYMOLOGY AND ALLEGORY     49
Chapter 3 - THE NAMES OF HEROES: GREEK AND ALEXANDRIAN
ETYMOLOGIZING    61
1.    Etymology and Onomastics
2.    Etymologies in the Cratylus
3.    Alexandrian Etymologizing
Chapter 4 - QUARTUS GRADUS ETYMOLOGIAE: THE ROMAN
CONTRIBUTION    85
1.    Etymology in Rome
2.    Cicero and Augustine
3.    Varro's Contribution
Chapter 5 - ALLEGORICAL ETYMOLOGY AS A DENKFORM:
 THE MIDDLE AGES OF ISIDORE    106
1.    The Etymologiae and The Seven Liberal Arts
2.    Isidore's Definition of Etymology
Chapter 6 - EMITHOLOGIA: ETYMOLOGY?S RIDDLES
        FROM 1500 TO 1700     135

Chapter 7 - REDEFINING DIFFERENCE: ALLEGORICAL
 ETYMOLOGY IN VICO, DERRIDA, AND DE MAN    155

1.    Derrida's Pharmakon
2.    Hermes Thrice-Greatest
3.    Chapter 8 - ALTERNATIVE ROUTES    177
WORKS CITED    216
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication:

Language and languages -- Etymology -- History.
Allegory.