Gerard Cheshire

Those of you interested in studying Italian Medieval history may be interested in a couple of new papers.

Recently the writing system of a Medieval manuscript was revealed to be proto-Romance: i.e. the ancestor to Italian and the other modern Romance languages. In addition, it is written with a proto-Italic alphabet. It is the only known document of this kind and therefore has considerable linguistic and historic value.

Two papers have been issued, which explain the writing system and translate a number of excerpts as examples. They can be freely downloaded from the linguistics website: LingBuzz.
1. Linguistic Missing Links: Code 003737
2. Linguistically Dating and Locating MS408: Code 003808

The manuscript originates from Castello Aragonese, Ischia, c. 1444. It was written for the queen by a nun from the Dominican community affiliated with the royal court. The first paper divulges information about womanly matters, such as sexual attraction, conception, gestation, childbirth and parenting. The second paper tells the story of the rescue of the population of Vulcano during a volcanic eruption. A flotilla sailed from Ischia to Lipari and then to Vulcano. The survivors were then given food and shelter before being taken back to Ischia to recover from their ordeal.

Many southern European scholars are now translating more of the manuscript for their different academic interests. Some of you may find the papers an interesting read.
Regards,
G. E. Cheshire.

Pica

Thank you for the info, I shall follow it up when I've finished killing the hordes of caterpillars eating my lovely plants-should be just another 2 weeks.

philat98

The recent hot weather has made the weeds that have been continuously watered since New Year grow like mad. I would be very pleased if some caterpillars came and ate them.
Lingustic Missing links looks terribly complicated.

modicasa

Interesting but a bit puzzling. It was written more than a century after Dante wrote the Divine Comedy which is the first 'Italian' piece of writing, and in which Dante praises Sicilian as being the original Italian language, as it was the prime language of the 11 to 13th centuries. So proto romantic in what is not really the medieval period seems a bit of wishful thinking.

Pica

Caterpillers unfortunately don't discriminate between weeds and beloved plants. They are destined to be tiger garden moths which I shall also exterminate

Geordieborn

We too have a load of them, but just 50m away there are none! Not totally convinced which species of moth they are as ours we have seen go from a patch of cob-web in the weeds to a mixture of that and fully grown hairy caterpillars. Think we need a new post on “nature” and perhaps help to identify. Our have done little damage to the plants, although they have had a go at the herbs, but they are everywhere (including outside walls and doors). Be careful if they get on your skin as some can cause irritation.

Pica

Ive done as much (Google) research as I can and am sure they are tiger moths which I saw in our garden last year after an horrendous influx of the damn things. The tiger moth in question has black wings with white blotches and hind wings mostly red.
The caterpillars have a black head and body and grow orange and then white hairs. I don't have a reaction to them because I can squish them with my fingers without ill effect-to myself anyway! Every morning we take 4 or 5 turns of the house disposing of them in a permanent way which means that the concrete surround of our house looks disgusting. By about 1.00 pm they cease gallivanting around. They hate water and drown rather easily.

scot47

I always thought that The Tiger Moth was a biplane flown by my boyhood
hero, Biggles.

philat98

I noticed in the regulations of the Comunita Montana D'Abruzzo that the insect family Arctiinae are a protected species and anyone seen to be squishing them will be reported to the Guardia Forestale and will receive a substantial fine!

Pica

They'll have to find ne first.... and then have proof 😀

Geordieborn

I know where you live, but we would also be locked up!