Operatori di definizione per le glosse della trattatistica in volgare (secc. XIII-XIV)

The article analyzes the way to introduce glosses in the vernacular treatises and it therefore concentrates both on Tuscan texts of the 13th and 14th centuries dealing with astronomy, physics, natural philosophy, moral and religious arguments and on the comments of Latin and vulgar works. Corpus OVI database (www.ovi.cnr.it) was used for text search. The study focuses on the connectors between the definiéndum and the defìniens and then deals with the particles or expressions that introduce a gloss and that we have named definition operators. Three operators in particular are used systematically in the vernacular treatises: cioè tanto è a dire quanto e non è altro che. Cioè introduces a gloss that either simplifies the term being glossed, or provides a variant that facilitates the reader’s comprehension. Whereas tanto è a dire quanto is employed to define loan words from Latin, Greek, Arabic, sometimes even from French, namely terms external to the vernacular language in which the author is writing, while non è altro che introduces a definition based on authority, an undisputable truth, or one that is believed to be undisputable. The constancy and the frequency with which we find especially the last two operators (tanto è a dire quanto and non è altro che) in the genre of texts analyzed make us think of ways followed with awareness by authors, commentators and translators and easily recognized by readers.