"woeful" occurs 81 times in Chaucer, 60 times in Spenser, and 43 times in Shakespeare. "woe-begone" occurs 5 times in Chaucer, once in Shakespeare, and never in Spenser. Chaucer also occasionally uses "woe" as an adjective. This using WordHoard lemma searches. In any case, "woe" and its relatives seem to me to be native English representatives of the emotional register under discussion here. Among the densest concentrations are Romeo and Juliet and Troilus and Criseyde, so tragic love may the thing doing the concentrating.
> On Aug 27, 2019, at 4:29 PM, Nohrnberg, James C (jcn) <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I forgot to mention that the Comedy's first use of tristizia, Inf 6.3, ends the episode of Paola and Francesa, and that the last name before the introduction of Francesca's own name and tale is Tristan's (Vedi...Tristano: Inf 5.67). (The oedipal love triangle in between, however, is Lancelot's, in another book of the same kind.)
>
>
> [log in to unmask]
> James Nohrnberg, Prof. Emeritus
> Univ. of Virginia
> Dept. of English / Bryan Hall 209
> P.O. Box 400121
> Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121
> From: Nohrnberg, James C (jcn) <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2019 4:36 PM
> To: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: question
>
> Dolor, sorrow, dejection; adj. doleful, sorrowful, sad. Tristicia is a Latin word found in Cicero and is a concept, as in Tuscan Disputations, IV.viii.18f, that thereafter comes into Christian thought sub the vice of accidie (wanhope etc.), as in Chaucer' Parson's Tale and Gower's Confessio Amantis IV.3389ff. This root for "sad" is found fairly often in various forms in Dante's Commedia. Earlier, in the OF Prose Lancelot, ch. I, it is offered as the origin of Tristan's name (so he is "christened", I guess), and that origin is played on in some places in the ensuing tale, e.g., ch. XI, Vez qui Tristan qui en tristece vos metra "Behold Tristan, who'll bring sorrow on you." The Christian tradition, with sources and citations (esp, patristic), is treated in Analogy 'FQ' 317-321. See also tristicia accidiosa at VII.205, p.245, of S. Wenzel, ed. Summa Virtutem Remediis Anime etc. (Athens, GA 1984). I could go on, but I'm tired of fighting the tyrannous and idiotic autocorrect: From this evil, good Lord, deliver me. (I also have to finish the laundry and make the beds, etc., and the night comes wherein no man can work.)
>
> [log in to unmask]
> James Nohrnberg, Prof. Emeritus
> Univ. of Virginia
> Dept. of English / Bryan Hall 209
> P.O. Box 400121
> Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121
> From: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Roger Kuin <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2019 4:56 AM
> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: question
>
> Dear all,
>
> My question is technically medieval, but I am sure it applies equally to the Renaissance. The famous prayer at one time attributed to St Francis, “O Signore, fa’ di me un istrumento della tua pace” I long accepted as such, until a few years ago I began to wonder at the line “Dove è tristezza, fa’ ch’io porti la gioia”. “Tristezza” seemed a suspiciously modern word. And, indeed, I found (and most of you know) the the prayer first appeared in French in 1912, probably written by Fr Esther Bouquerel. Now for my question, in the context of looking at the history of emotions: what word would St Francis in his time, or, say St Teresa of Avila in hers, or indeed Sidney and Spenser, have used for “tristesse”? Melancholia? Too weighty, no?
>
> Roger Kuin
>
>
>
>
>
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________________________________________
Craig A. Berry
"... getting out of a sonnet is much more
difficult than getting in."
Brad Leithauser
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