"Domus nova" and Dante’s Sardisms (DVE I XI 7)

Abstract

This essay resolves an aporia that has plagued the discussion to date on the forms attributed to Sardinians in Dante’s treatise De vulgari eloquentia. The expression domus nova, given by all three ancient manuscripts of the treatise, appeared to correspond neither to the singular Sardinian domo/domu nova nor to the plural domus novas, the name of a village in southern Sardinia belonging to Count Ugolino and therefore a probable source of inspiration for Dante. Thus the text has been amended by adapting it to the Sardinian forms, or, with the idea that Dante was proposing expressions that were not real but abnormal, readings such as «dominus nova et domus novus» and «dominus nova et domus meus» have been conjectured, instead of «domus nova et dominus meus» of two ancient manuscripts. The essay, through the examination of many Latin and vernacular documents hitherto neglected, shows instead that, during Dante’s lifetime, the name of the aforementioned village is Domus Nova, so the reading handed down by the codices corresponds to a linguistic reality in Sardinia. The same applies to dominus, alternating with the Sardinian donnu and the Tuscan donno and dòmino in reference to the lords of the Sardinian giudicati, such as Nino Visconti and Count Ugolino. The reading «domus nova et dominus meus» is thus confirmed by this new framework, which also shows Domusnovo as a toponym, alongside Domusnova. Such a form allows for a hitherto unestablished comparison with the reading «domus nova et domus novus» offered by the most authoritative codex. The last part of the essay discusses the implications this has on the tradition of the work, if not its composition.