Bosinada
The bosinada (IPA:
Etymology
Most scholars agree that the word "bosin" comes from Ambrœx (Lombard for
History
The oldest known bosinade date back to the early 18th century, but scholars (for example C. Repossi[4]) tend to believe that the tradition might have begun much earlier, possibly in the 16th century. Only from the 18th century, in fact, bosinate were printed, which makes it possible to determine their age through an analysis of their typographical characteristics.[4] Some of the earliest printed bosinate were composed by Gaspare Fumagalli around 1723. Collections of early bosinate were edited, among others, by Francesco Cherubini[5] and Ferdinando Fontana.[6]
In the 19th century the bosinada was so popular that even major Milanese dialectal poets such as Carlo Porta would occasionally refer to themselves as bosits, possibly as a statement of modesty. Bosinade also make occasional appearances in the plots of the stories and poems from these authors; in La Ninetta del Verzee ("Ninetta of the Verziere") by Porta, for example, the main character Ninetta hires a bosin to write a composition on her lover, who mistreats and exploits her, to hold him up to ridicule as a form of revenge.[7]
Bosinate continued until the early 20th century. Some of the last known bosinade include La Balonada by Gaetano Crespi (1907), about a hot air balloon race, or Delagrange volerà! ("Delagrange will fly") on the flight experiments by Léon Delagrange.
Structure
The bosinata did not have a fixed or codified structure. The
Notes
- ^ The Italian suffix -ata, or -ada in Lombard, refers to something typical of the person the suffix is attached to; e.g., a bambinata (from bambino, "child") is "a childish act". Likewise, bosinada would mean "a bosin's thing".
References
Sources
- Bernardino Biondelli (1853), Saggio sui dialetti gallo-ítalici.
- Francesco Cherubini (1816), Collezione delle migliori opere scritte in dialetto milanese, Pirotta, Milan
- Gaetano Crespi (1907), La balonada. Satira giornalistica in sestine milanesi di G.C., Libreria Renato Baggio, Milan
- Ferdinando Fontana (1901), Antologia Meneghina, E. Colombi, Bellizona
- Cesare Repossi (1985), "Bibliografia delle Bosinate in dialetto milanese (1650-1848)", in: F. Della Peruta, R. Leydi, A. Stella, eds., Milano e il suo territorio, Silvana ed., Milan
External links
- Text of some bosinate from the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense