After a century and a half of lively debate, the meaning of Corbaccio’s title remains a riddle for Italianists. The various hypotheses are not just based on the meaning ‘crow’, with the properties associated to this bird in Medieval bestiaries, but count with other possible etymologies (with meanings as diverse as ‘whip’ or ‘basket’). This article suggests a far simpler possibility: the expression may derive from the most common (and long-lasting) colloquial value of ‘crow’, the animal who, in the Book of Genesis, left his female in Noah’s ark and never came back. Thus, the evil crow (Corbaccio) may be an icon of the man who chooses to refuse female company and remain lonely; as a prerequisite for academic progress, such condition emphasizes the link with the well-known tale of the scholar and the widow (Decameron VIII 7).
DEL CORVO, ANIMALE SOLITARIO. ANCORA UN’IPOTESI PER IL TITOLO DEL CORBACCIO
ZACCARELLO, Michelangelo
2014-01-01
Abstract
After a century and a half of lively debate, the meaning of Corbaccio’s title remains a riddle for Italianists. The various hypotheses are not just based on the meaning ‘crow’, with the properties associated to this bird in Medieval bestiaries, but count with other possible etymologies (with meanings as diverse as ‘whip’ or ‘basket’). This article suggests a far simpler possibility: the expression may derive from the most common (and long-lasting) colloquial value of ‘crow’, the animal who, in the Book of Genesis, left his female in Noah’s ark and never came back. Thus, the evil crow (Corbaccio) may be an icon of the man who chooses to refuse female company and remain lonely; as a prerequisite for academic progress, such condition emphasizes the link with the well-known tale of the scholar and the widow (Decameron VIII 7).
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