Glosse in volgare marchigiano in un codice di Prospero d’Aquitania

Prosper of Aquitaine was a Christian writer who lived in the first half of the 5th century AD. His Epigrammata, a compilation of about a hundred epigrams based on Saint Augustin’s works, were widely read during the Middle Ages. Often associated with the spurious Poema coniugis ad uxorem, Prosper’s work also served as a very popular textbook to learn Latin in medieval school. The Epigrammata are trasmitted by several manuscripts, many of which contain Latin and vernacular glosses written by young scholars. This kind of glossed school books can give us useful information about both Medieval education and the linguistic dynamics of Latin learning, also providing data about the relations between Latin and vernacular in written language. The essay focuses on a single Italian manuscript copy dating to 1425, now held at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan. A critical edition of the text and his glosses is provided, along with a philological survey and a linguistic analysis suggesting that the manuscript may have been copied and glossed in the southern-central Marche.