Copia Verborum: Synonymy, Amplification, Lists, and Logorrhea

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Special Session

Organizer Name

Monika Otter

Organizer Affiliation

Dartmouth College

Presider Name

Yun Ni

Presider Affiliation

Harvard Univ.

Paper Title 1

Alexander Nequam's Table: Food Grammar in Medieval Latin Treatises

Presenter 1 Name

Kelly Evans

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Southern Methodist Univ.

Paper Title 2

Authority in Abundance: Formal and Situational Variation in the Model Letters of Boncompagno da Signa and Guido Faba

Presenter 2 Name

Jonathan Newman

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Bishop's Univ.

Paper Title 3

Respondent

Presenter 3 Name

Monika Otter

Start Date

17-5-2015 10:30 AM

Session Location

Bernhard 211

Description

The word "copia" oscillates semantically between senses of "abundance, richness" and senses of "mastery, competence." Richness of expression, treasuries of words, mastery of vocabulary, amplification and ornamentation are fundamental concepts in rhetoric and poetics from late antiquity until the renaissance. Treatises on synonymy and word lists such as the ps.-Ciceronian "De Synonymis" were frequently copied. I hope for papers dealing with pedagogical, rhetorical, linguistic and philosophical aspects of copia verborum, and above all papers that reflect on the broader concept, as well as the nexus between "mastery" and "abundance."

Monika C. Otter