[gothic-l] off topic/on topic

[keth at ONLINE.NO]

Hi Nikolai,

>Question... who/when first used the term "Gothic" or "Gothique" in
>reference to the architecture of Northern Italy/France during the
>middle ages?

I have the years 1440 and 1615 noted down.
So I guess 1440 is the oldest usage of the French adjective
"gothique" that is on record. Its meaning seems to have
indicated that something had something to do with the historical
Goths of antiquity. But I suppose it came to signify something
that belonged to the period after the Romans, i.e. "the gothic
epoch". In vulgar Latin the corresponding adjective was "gothicus".
So I guess the French adjective derives from the vulgar Latin
adjective. But the year 1440 pertains to the French word.
So it probably was used in vulgar Latin prior to this date.

Well, since the period that started after the Roman period
(=antiquity) was called the Middle Ages, the word "gothique"
became a kind of synonym with "medieval".

The date 1615 then refers to a usage that pertained to any kind
of "art" that derived from the medieval period. Thus it now
became an adjective that was mainly used to describe a certain
style, the medieval or gothic style. This usage held sway until
the 19th century.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, that is what I was able to find out by using the French
dictionary. Perhaps not entirely correct(?) since I had to
expand somewhat upon the more or less cryptic remarks there.
But I do not have access to the big (multivolume) dictionary,
where I think you'd find more copious notes, quoting the titles
of the some of the medieavl works where this word was used,
as well as quoting peices of text, so that you can see the context.
A little bit like the OED. If any one has more copious info, I
should certainly be interested in it.

Best regards
Keth







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