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Aldred’s interlinear glosses added to the Latin text of the Lindisfarne Gospels have undoubtedly an inestimable value as one of the most substantial representatives of late Old Northumbrian. Therefore, they have been an object of study both as a source of information on this Old English variety and on the typological changes affecting Middle English. Starting from the assumption that glosses have an ancillary function with respect to the Latin text they accompany, I have argued in the present paper that they can make a significant contribution to delineating the history and meaning of a word inasmuch as glossators could have chosen vernacular words according to their core meaning. The particular case of the verbs of possessionāganand the forms derived from it, including the past participleāgen, will be used in the following discussion of the role of glosses: the investigation of their meaning in the Lindisfarne Gospels will help us understand the development ofāgeninto the PDE attributive intensifierown.

The Collectio Mineralium (1765) currently preserved at the Historical Archive of the Natural History Museum of the University of Firenze, is the unpublished catalog of the mineralogical collection that belonged to Emperor Leopold II (1747–1792). The catalog is a 110-page register, with the golden emblem of the House of Habsburg at the center of the binding, containing information about 242 mineralogical samples. Each specimen is carefully described (i.e., habit, metal content, product value) and its locality given. The interpretation of the text has also returned information on most of the mining deposits in the Austro-Hungarian territories in the eighteenth century. Therefore, the interpretation of this catalog—that on the basis of the literature appears to be the first catalog of a collection belonged to a Habsburg emperor—represents an important step toward enhancing our understanding of Habsburg natural history collections and reflected the transition from wonder-rooms to commodity collecting. Leopold's private collection was no longer an ‘instrument of wonder’ but it became representative of scientific collecting characterized by the establishment of systematic mineralogy, and by a careful economic evaluation of the mineralogical samples collected as a symbol of the power of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The image of Magellan as a modern hero who strongly wanted and tried at any price to complete the circumnavigation of the earth, but whom death prevented from doing so partly arose as soon as the first reports of the journey following the arrival of the only ship, Victoria, with 18 survivors were issued. Among these, there is the account Maximilianus Transylvanus gave on the basis of the information obtained interviewing a group of survivors, including Captain Elcano. He immediately understood the political relevance and the propaganda potential of the success of Magellan’s enterprise. In this article we will analyze De Moluccis insulis, highlighting the content and linguistic choices that contribute to creating an image of the expedition, of Magellan and of the role of Spain in the new world.

The volume collects the contributions presented at the first Seminar organized in 2014 in Florence by the Section of Intercultural Studies of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Intercultural Studies on the theme “Languages, Literatures and Migrant Cultures”. The essays - written by authors from the area of German studies and Germanic philology, Lusitanistics, Hispano-American studies, Sinology and Comparative studies - analyse various aspects of the theme of “migration” in the variety of its expressions: alongside strictly linguistic observations, they investigate the phenomenon of intercultural contact on a social, historical, literary and anthropological level.Il volume raccoglie i contributi presentati al primo Seminario organizzato nel 2014 a Firenze dalla Sezione di Studi Interculturali del Dipartimento di Lingue, Letterature e Studi Interculturali sul tema “Lingue, letterature e culture migranti”. I saggi – di autrici provenienti dall’area di studi di germanistica e di filologia germanica, di lusitanistica, ispanoamericanistica, sinologia e comparatistica – prendono in analisi vari aspetti del tema della ‘migrazione’ nella molteplicita delle sue realizzazioni: accanto ad osservazioni strettamente linguistiche, indagano sul fenomeno del contatto interculturale sul piano sociale, storico, letterario e antropologico.

Il contributo è dedicato a uno studioso al quale la storiografia linguistica ha riservato in genere uno spazio modesto, nonostante il nome e le opere abbiano avuto ampia circolazione tra i contemporanei: fu infatti una delle più alte espressioni della linguistica ottocentesca, meglio noto, attraverso le biografie e note saussuriane, come l'americano William Dwight Whitney. Whitney occupa un posto di rilievo nella storia della linguistica anche e soprattutto in quanto fu autore di uno dei primi testi introduttivi alla disciplina; a Whitney si deve un contributo significativo alla costruzione delle fondamenta stesse della linguistica generale, nonostante il suo apporto alla disciplina sia stato spesso taciuto o trascurato. Nella sua opera emergono in primo piano concetti che gli studiosi tedeschi avevano ignorato, come quello di un segno linguistico arbitrario e convenzionale, o ai quali avevano dato poca importanza, come quello della comunicazione, quando non li avevano addirittura rifiutati. Allo stesso tempo si fa strada una concezione del linguaggio come mezzo di comunicazione e come istituzione. Whitney espresse quindi una posizione per certi versi allineata al suo tempo, per molti altri rappresenta invece un momento di rottura. Il contributo analizza anche aspetti del metodo, in questo e in altri testi coevi, come l'uso delle metafore.