Enriquecimiento léxico del latín en Nebrija

• Autores: Gregorio Hinojo Andrés
• Localización: Voces, ISSN 1130-3336, Nº 3, 1992, págs. 117-124
• Idioma: español
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen
  • español

    El objetivo primordial de los humanistas era restaurar, hacer renacer, recuperar la pureza, elegancia y corrección de la lengua latina de la época clásica. Este ideal resultaba difícil de compatibilizar con el programa de algunos destacados renacentistas, entre los que sin duda se halla Nebrija, que querían convertir el latín en una lengua hablada, que expresara todas las necesidades y exigencias de la comunicación de su época, sin renunciar al citado objetivo de todos los humanistas. La dificultad se presentaba especialmente en el campo léxico, ya que numerosas instituciones, instrumentos y realidades de la época renacentista eran desconocidos en la Antigüedad clásica y carecían de denominación en la lengua latina, como en el prólogo del Diccionario indica Nebrija: At e contrario 'multa sunt nostro saeculo', quae antiquitas illa aut penitus ignoravit, aut genere tantum indistincte cognito, differentias rerum non intellexit.

  • English

    Like other prominent humanists, Nebrija was trying to make Latin a self-sufficient language, capable of meeting the needs of communication in his own age. This ambitious plan was difficult to implement due to a number of lexical gaps, since many institutions, artifacts, materials and concepts characteristic of the Renaissance were completely unknown in Antiquity and, accordingly, lacked a specific designation in Classical Latin. In order to overcome these difficulties, Nebrija had recourse to three different devices. Firstly, he borrowed from ancient authors who till then had been excluded from the classical canon as being too late or too vulgar. Secondly, he coined a number of neologisms using the classical rules of derivation and composition.

    Thirdly, he expanded the semantic range of some Latin words. By using these three devices, Nebrija distanced himself from the orthodox ciceronians who rejected all words which were not recorded in Cicero or in any other writer of the classical period.