GESNER, Conrad. (With) SABBIO, Stefano da.

Fascinating sammelband of two closely related works on ancient linguistics, one a first edition of Conrad Gesner’s work on the development of languages, including the gypsy dialect Rotwelsch, dedicated to John Barclay, Bishop of Ossory, the other the first dictionary of vernacular Greek. From the library of the French historian and bibliophile Jacques-Auguste de Thou (1533-1617).

The second work, by the Venetian printer da Sabbio, under the Greek name of Stephanos Chrysimos, constitutes the first attempt to produce a dictionary of modern, vernacular Greek. It is unsurprising that Venice should have been the locale for such an effort, given the Republic’s frequent trading contacts with Greek merchants. It contains an alphabet with phonetic pronunciation, a brief description of vowels, diphthongs (of which there are twelve, divided into ‘proper,’ i.e. those known to be used in ancient times, and ‘improper,’ i.e. those introduced through modern custom), and consonants. There then follow Greek versions of the Lord’s prayer and Hail Mary transliterated phonetically into Roman script, and Latin versions transliterated back into phonetic Greek, the former providing a useful indication of contemporary pronunciation and corresponding orthography. Designed principally for Italian users, the dictionary is arranged alphabetically by Italian words, which are then provided in transliterated ‘vulgar’ or vernacular Greek, Latin, and finally literary or ancient Greek, below which all four words are transliterated phonetically into Greek script. Occasionally the Greek terms coincide (as do the Italian, Latin and literary Greek), but in many instances they differ entirely. ‘Horse,’ for example, is rendered as ‘alogo’ in vernacular Greek and ‘hippos’ the ancient language. 

Gesner’s work is a suitable accompaniment, being a study of the development of ancient languages into various dialects, from which modern languages are derived, He notes in the introduction that many languages are simply corruptions of ancient Hebrew, and divides languages into classical and ‘barbarian,’ divine and ‘brutish.’ The work itself, an attempt to delineate the origins of every modern vernacular and ancient language, takes the form of an alphabetical catalogue of entries, often very brief and containing a few examples of words transliterated into Roman script. These include, inter alia, Egyptian, Ethiopian, Armenian, Babylonian, Scottish, Welsh, English, Persian, Sabine, Rhaetic or ‘Alpine,’ Punic, Hebrew (using Hebrew script), Etruscan, Cappadocian, Chaldaean, Circasian, Moscovite, Turkish, and ancient and vernacular Greek. Aimed at a scholarly audience – Gesner acknowledges the influence of contemporary authors including Sebastian Münster, Guillaume Postel and Theodore Bibliander – this work nonetheless (like the Corona) addresses a modern vernacular context: the longest entry by far is on the German language and the ancient Scythian origins of the German tribes, as well as its derivation from Gothic. At the rear Gesner reprints a glossary of words in high German and ‘Rotwelsch,’ a slang or thieves’ cant used by beggars, vagabonds and drifters, designed to illustrate the development of dialects, but also the need for the regulation and control of languages to prevent their corruption. This constitutes an attack on Roma gypsy, or what Gesner calls ‘cigani’ culture, since he includes Rotwelsch in his catalogue of fictitious or invented languages, alongside Thomas More’s verse tetrastichon in Utopian, transliterated here into Roman script, with the Latin translation. Gesner quotes Münster’s assertion that this ‘barbaric’ dialect was invented by gypsies, whom Gesner calls ‘misshapen people, blackened by the sun,’ appearing in Germany in 1417 and pretending to possess ancient origins.

The majority of de Thou’s books were simply bound with his coat of arms. After 1587 he ordered a new block to include the arms of his first wife, Marie de Barbançon-Cany (1587-1601), as well as a cipher joining their initials, IAM, which appears on the spine of this copy. De Thou’s library of around 9000 volumes was left after his death to his children, under the care of his fellow bibliophile Pierre Dupuy. In 1642 de Thou’s eldest son, François Auguste, was executed for his role in the Cinq-Mars conspiracy, after which possession of the library passed to his younger brother Jacques-Auguste II de Thou (1609-77), but in 1669 his creditors took possession of the library and commissioned a catalogue for sale, published eventually in 1679 as Catalogus bibliothecae Thuanae, where the book appears, with only the Gesner mentioned, on p. 209. In 1680 the library was purchased en bloc by the Marquis Jean-Jacques Charron de Ménars (1643-1714), then sold in 1706 to Cardinal Armand-Gaston-Maximilien de Rohan-Soubise (1674-1749), and finally dispersed after the death of Charles de Rohan, Prince de Soubise (1715-1787), through auction in 1789. The Soubise library shelfmarks and notation can be found in this copy on the pastedown and front board, and the book appears in the catalogue of the Soubise sale, again only with mention of the Gesner, as item 4311, p. 293.