Considerazioni sul Latino come lingua imperiale (secc. XII-XVI)

This paper investigates the characters of Latin, which, at least until part of the 16th century (and beyond), was a universal language, a language of formal communication par excellence, both in literature (humanistic and scientific) and in politics. This reflection is based on the distinction between Latin as the language of imperium (i.e., of command, of empire, of sovereignty), and Latin as the imperial language (i.e., of emulation and assimilation of the characters of empire). Sometimes, the two languages are indeed indistinguishable, however, in principle, it could be argued that when the empire loses its authority, Latin contextually attenuates (at least in the perception of its official and administrative traits) the character of the language of the empire to increase the character of the imperial language (i.e., universal, and ecumenical), and vice versa. The phenomenon does not reveal a linear chronological evolution. On the contrary, it will happen that in the 15th century, when the Empire will almost completely lose its importance, the Latin recreated by the Humanists (like Lorenzo Valla, il Panormita, Giovanni Juan de Lucena etc.) will return to be simultaneously imperial language and language of the empire, even if the empire they have in mind is not the medieval, but the ancient Roman one.