Riccardo Rizza (main ed.) withMaria Helena Abreu, Encarnación García Dini, Enrico Giaccherini, Walter Pagani, Peter Wolfgang Waentig

Colloquia, et dictionariolum octo linguarum Latinae, Gallicae, Belgicae, Teutonicae, Hispanicae, Italicae, Anglicae, Portugallicae.

Viareggio-Lucca-Italy: Mauro Baroni editore s.d. [1996], I-XVI + [XVII] + [1-4] + 5a and b-189a and b + 190-200 + [201-204] pp. ISBN 88-85408-32-X. It. Lira 100,000.00

The most reliable sources for the historiographical reconstruction of teaching and learning a foreign language in the centuries of the past are, of course, textbooks. The first to be printed for languages other than the classical ones, in this case for German and Italian, is Adam of Rottweil's Introito e porta, published in Venice in 1477. As a textbook-type it was similar to older textbooks which circulated as manuscripts, for example the Liber in volgaro of Magister George of Nuremberg, which was written in 1424 - also in German and Italian, and also in Venice. These books, obviously meant for self-study, differed from the older as well as the contemporary Latin textbooks by their practical approach, although there were also common features. Such are, most of all, to be found in the topically-ordered word-lists. But the selection of vocabulary, its arrangement, the incorporation of grammar in communicative phrases and the dialogues prove that their aim was not the bookish competence in Latin and Greek but a command of foreign languages for everyday practical purposes.

Introito e porta developed into a wide spread of affiliated works between 1477 and 1555 (Bart 1984). In all, 90 different editions are known to us with eventually as many as eight languages arranged side by side. This means that the textbook was available in all relevant language areas of Europe and resulted in its leaving its mark on foreign language teaching and learning in its special way almost everywhere. Latin was also included, not as a learned language but as the common means of communication that the Humanists wanted it to be. The development of a whole textbook-family from one single publication is typical of the 16th and 17th centuries.1 It happened not only with Adam of Rottweil's Introito e porta, but also with Colloquia et dictionariolum, a publication by Noel de Berlaimont in Antwerp. The first extant edition of this textbook appeared in 1530, but there were almost certainly earlier ones. The first known full title reads:

Between 1530 and 1703 more than one hundred different editions of this book appeared, again in up to eight European languages (Verdeyen 1925-1935; Lindemann 1994). Like Introito e porta, the Colloquia et dictionariolum was a work which spread over all relevant language areas of Europe and left its characteristic imprint on the teaching and learning of foreign languages, including 'common' Latin.

There is a third textbook-family with a similar impact. It originated from William Bathe's Janua linguarum, first published in Salamanca in 1611. It is a systematically arranged collection of sentences (O Mathúna 1986). Some thirty editions came out in various West-European languages before 1634. Further editions are mentioned, particularly in Slavonic languages, but these cannot be verifie.. In 1631 Comenius appropriated the title and the principles of William Bathe's book, while changing its contents considerably. This was published as his Janua linguarum reserata, of which more than one hundred editions in all relevant European languages are known.

The story of the textbook-families proves that, from the beginning until the end of the 17th century at least, the teaching of foreign vernaculars was an international affair, a cultural activity in Europe of a homogeneous character which did not alter with the languages taught. National individualisation was only to occur only much later. It is therefore doubtful whether a treatment of the history of language teaching at that time based on national divisions (Caravolas 1994) can be adequate.

To my knowledge there is no reprint of Introito e porta available. This makes historiographical research difficult. There is, however, a critical edition of Liber in volgaro (Pausch 1972). The only reprint of one of the many editions of Colloquia et dictionariolum is Verdeyen (1925-1935), which is difficult to get hold of nowadays. There is no reprint of Bathe's Janua, although a thorough study of this work is available (O Mathúna 1986). Comenius' Janua was reprinted in the Opera Omnia, volume 15/I (1986). The publication by Ricardo Rizza and his team of a reprint of one of the eight-language editions of Colloquia et dictionariolum cannot be too highly praised. With this, historiographical research will be better placed to do justice to this extraordinary textbook by analysing its lexis, its arrangement, and its dialogues. The exact title of the reprinted book (continuing from the main title of the reprint) reads:

The title shows the aim of the work and its approach to language teaching. The text is printed across the pages in eight parallel columns, repeating the sequence of languages as mentioned in the title. There is a short introduction clarifying the responsibilities of the various co-editors. A brief text introduces the reader to the Berlaimont textbook-family. The columns are printed carefully, with clear distinction between Roman and italicised fonts, variants of spelling given in the footnotes. Pp. 5a+b to 9a+b contain the address "To the Reader", pp. 10a+b to 12a+b "The Table of this Booke". There then follow seven dialogues: "A dinner of ten persons" (pp.12a+b to 48a+b), "For to learne to buye and sell" (pp. 48a+b to 60a+b), "For to demaunde debtes" (pp.61a+b to 66a+b), "For to aske the way, with oter familiar communicationis" (pp. 67a+b to 73a+b), "Common talke being in the Inne" (pp. 67a+b to 86a+b), "Communication at the [v]prising" (pp. 86a+b to 93a+b), and "Proposes of marchandise" (pp. 931+b to 112a+b). These are presented with dramatis personae and in as realistic terms as possible, although a comparison with other dialogue books of the time shows that the scenes are prototypical rather than original. The dialogues are followed by tables giving numbers and the days of the week (pp. 112a+b to 113a+b). Next comes a letter-writer's guide with a number of model letters (pp. 114a+b to 138a+b), and finally an alphabetical dictionary (pp. 139a+b to 189a+b). The work concludes with a short treatise on pronunciation and grammatical morphology written in French for French, Italian, and Spanish, but written in Italian for German, concluding with a few remarks, again in French, for Italian, Spanish, French, and Low-Dutch. Each of these diverse parts of the book deserves a close analysis with reference to the language, the methods of language teaching and learning, and details of cultural history. Colloquia et Dictionariolum is now available for everybody who is interested in these questions. It is hoped that libraries all over Europe will learn of its existence and add it to their stock.

References

Bart, Alda Rossebastiano(1984): Antichi vocabulari plurilingui d'uso popolare: la tradizione del 'Solenissimo Vochabulista'. Alessandria: Edizioni dell'Orso.

Caravolas, Jean-Antoine (1994): La didactique des langues. Précis d'Histoire I 1450-1700. Montreal/Tübingen: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal/Gunter Narr.

Comenius, Johannes Amos (1636/1986): J. A. Comenii Janua Lingvarum Reserata sive Seminarium Lingvarum Et Scientiarum Omnium. Hoc est [...]. Primúmque anno 1631 edita. Ed. by Marie Kyralová and Martin Steiner. Opera Omnia Jan Amos Komenský, vol. 15/I, Praha: Academia, pp. 257-301, notes pp. 482-509.

Lindemann, Margarete (1994): Die französischen Wörterbücher von den Anfängen bis 1600. Entstehung und typologische Beschreibung. Tübingen: Niemeyer.

O Mathúna, Seán P. (1986): William Bathe, S.J., 1564-1614. A Pioneer in Linguistics. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Pausch, Oskar (1972): Das älteste italienisch-deutsche Sprachbuch. Eine Überlieferung aus dem Jahre 1424 nach Georg von Nürnberg. Wien: Hermann Böhlau (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften).

Verdeyen, R. (1925-1935): Colloquia Et Dictionariolum Septem Linguarum. Gedrukt door Fickaert Te Antwerpen In 1616 Op Nieuw Uitgegeven Door Prof. Dr. [...]. I. Antwerpen/s'Gravenhage: Nederlandsche Boekhandel/M. Nijhoff 1926; II. Id. 1925; III. Antwerpen: Solvijnstraat, 70, 1935. Vereeniging Der Antwerpsche Bibliophilen, Uitgave Nr. 39, 40, 42.

Werner Hüllen, Essen

Footnote

  1. See the abstract of my conference paper "Habent sua fata libelli" elsewhere in this Bulletin. [Back to main text]