medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
"prosimetrum" is a literary terminus technicus designating a composition
in which prose and verse alternate more than once. This can take many
different forms, but in medieval Western literature, at least, prose
usually predominates. The alternations can be of regular or of
irregular occurrence. First attested to in Latin dictaminal treatises
(_dictamen_: verbal composition of a practical nature, esp.
letter-writing) from twelfth-century Italy, the term entered various
modern languages as a loan word and is widely used in English by
students of many of the world's literatures. "prosimetric" is a
corresponding adjective with the same field of reference.
Sometimes Google will help where on-line dictionaries fail. A Google
search for "prosimetric" just now yielded 151 hits; several of the first
of these either contain a brief definition or at least furnish the
corresponding noun "prosimetrum". A Google search for the latter
yielded 696 hits, of which the very first one
(http://www.boydell.co.uk/59914755.HTM/) provides a good answer to the
question "What does 'prosimetric' mean?".
Examples of prosimetrum familiar to many on this list include Boethius'
_Consolatio Philosophiae_, Dante's _Vita nuova_, _Aucassin et
Nicolette_, and Tolkien's _The Lord of the Rings_.
Best,
John Dillon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Postles, Dr D.A." <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, October 4, 2004 9:55 pm
Subject: Re: "Prosimetric"
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> culture
> I've checked in a wide number of lit./linguistic works and can find
> no mention of it, presumably a neologism. Is it a quantitative
> approach to prosody?
>
> Trissotin
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture on
> behalf of Marjorie Greene
> Sent: Tue 05/10/2004 03:25
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [M-R] "Prosimetric"
>
>
>
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> culture
> I'm limited to an online (and obviously inadequate) dictionary at
> the moment and could not find "prosimetric" in it. I'm assuming
> it's used to describe something written in metered prose but
> somehow that sounds suspiciously like poetry. (I do feel like M.
> Jourdain in _Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme"...) May I know what
> "prosimetricity" or "prosimetricness" is?
> MG
>
> -- "John B. Dillon" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> culture
> 1) Phyllis Jestice wrote:
>
> > Today (4. October) is the feast day of:
>
> > Petronius (d. c. 445) Petronius seems to have been a Roman official
> > who became a cleric. He went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land,
> > returned to become bishop of Bologna in c. 432, and set out to
> > rebuild churches destroyed by the Goths---modeling them on the
> > structures he had seen in Palestine.
>
> A useful recent book on P. and his cult, with scholarly articles and
> texts of his prosimetric twelfth-century Life (BHL 6641) and his later
> medieval Office, is Enzo Lodi, ed., _San Petronio. Patrono della
> citta'e diocesi di Bologna_ (Bologna: Edizioni Renografica, 2000;
> xiii, 298pp.).
>
> P.'s basilica is Bologna's cathedral church, begun in the 1390s.
> Frontal views, showing the unfinished facade, are here:
>
http://www.comune.bologna.it/iperbole/amarconi/rds/antenne/bologna/spetronio.html
>
> The main portal
> http://www.settechiese.it/01_2001/img/pag_08.jpg
> is surmounted by the Madonna flanked by saints Ambrose and Petronius:
> http://www.settechiese.it/01_2001/img/pag_07.jpg
>
> This portal is noted for its early fifteenth-century reliefs by Jacopo
> della Quercia. These are shown and discussed here:
> http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/quercia/quercia.html
> Better photographs, with expandable jpegs, are at:
> http://www.thais.it/scultura/bosnpet.htm
> and
> http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/q/quercia/bologna/42tempta.html
>
> An interior fresco by Giovanni da Modena shows Mohammed being tortured
> in hell:
> http://www.artnet.com/magazine/features/moore/moore10-2-3.asp
>
> This has been drawing some unfavorable attention lately:
> http://www.armyofgod.com/Mohameddemons.html
> and, for some context for the detail (well down on the page; search
> for"Petronio"):
> http://www.suprmchaos.com/bcEnt-Thu-062702.index.html
>
>
> 2) I wrote:
>
> > Today (4. October) is also the feast day of:
> >
> > Thomas of Celano (blessed; d. a. 1260).
>
> This will make better sense if one reads "d. ca. 1260".
>
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