Battling with Beasts: Arabic and Hebrew in the Covarrubias Treasure (1611) 

This seminar will be held in Madrid on Tuesday, October 30 and will be given by Dominique Neyrod and Or Hasson.

The seminar, to be held within the framework of the CORPI project, “Battling with Beasts: Arabic and Hebrew in the Treasure of the Castilian or Spanish Language by Sebastián de Covarrubias (1611)” will be held on Tuesday, October 30, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Room 0E18 Menéndez Pidal at the CSIC Center for Human and Social Sciences (at Calle Albasanz, 26-28, Madrid). Coffee will be served in the middle of the session.

Dominique Neyrod (MCF enabled in Hispanic Linguistics from the Université du Mans):
Disseminated through the Covarrubias Treasure is the material necessary to create a basic grammar of Arabic and, at the same time, a sketch of the grammar of Castilian Arabisms. The grammatical and developmental data appear explicitly or implicitly in the etymologies lent by Covarrubias to two other lexicographers, Diego de Guadix and Diego de Urrea. What is the meaning of the existence of an Arabic grammar in the first monolingual dictionary of Spanish? We will take a closer look to answer questions about the scientific personalities of these three lexicographers and their place in the history of linguistic ideas, attempting to situate the Treasure and its author within the historical and social context of that era, marked by the “Moorish problem” and uses of the Arabic language.

Or Hasson (Post-doctoral member at the Mandel Scholion Center, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem):
In a general manner and from a comparative perspective, we will examine the representation of Hebrew and Arabic in the Treasure of Covarrubias, the concepts which the lexicographer handles with each of them, the relationship these two languages have with each other, and the role they play in the history of Spanish, as narrated by the lexicographer himself. On the one hand, we will take a look at the tensions between the theoretical and conceptual levels and the etymological practice of Covarrubias, and what the meaning may be of the gaps between what is stated and what is shown in the Treasure. On the other hand, the relationship between the concepts of the Semitic languages used by Covarrubias will be examined, and the representation of their speakers and cultures.

Further information on the CORPI project (Conversion, Overlapping Religiosities, Polemics and Interaction: Early Modern Iberia and Beyond).