Un lessico per il teatro comico. Buffoni e ‘bomolochoi’

In the ancient Greek theatre, bomolochos means ‘buffoon’: the word is clearly referable to a comical tradition, but gradually shifts in its meaning and becomes a keyword for other literary genres (philosophy and biography above all), up to contemporary reception. How does that term undergo such relevant changes during its travel across time? The investigation of this headword represents the starting point of a cross-university project (Bari, Bologna, Milan and Pisa universities, sponsored by the Italian Culture Ministry) which aims at identifying and analysing the words that characterize the comical language, in order to produce a digital lexicon, in a systematic perspective on the genesis, the persistence, and the fortune of the comic genre.