2024, vol. 12, no. 3. Emanov A.G.

2024, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 492-511

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2024-12-3.492-511

EDN: https://elibrary.ru/ACTOCS

   COSMOPOLIS IN THE PRE-MODERN EPOCH ON THE BORDER
OF THE WESTERN AND EASTERN CULTURES:
MULTILINGUALISM AND LIMITS OF TRANSFERABILITY
(ON CAFFA’S MATERIALS OF THE 13th–15th CENTURIES)

A.G. Emanov
Tyumen State University
Tyumen, Russian Federation
a.g.emanov@utmn.ru

Abstract. Objective: To investigate the problem of the terminological precision of the most relevant qualities possessed by cosmopolis in the pre-modern world where the representatives of Western and Eastern faith acted equals in various written and spoken languages.
Research materials: The “Codex Cumanicus” composed in Caffa at the turn of the 13th–14th centuries; the lexis of medieval urbanism in three languages (Latin, Persian, and Comanian) selected from it; “Libellus de notitia orbis” of Iohannes de Galonifontibus with a description of multilingual Caffa from the early 15th century.
Results and novelty of the research: From the “Codex Cumanicus” was first isolated the lexis of medieval urbanism, dispersed throughout four semantic fields: representation of cosmopolis in the physicality, legally, the sociocultural data, and the ethical community. The representation of cosmopolis in the physicality found untranslatability to eastern languages such Latin terms as “murus”, and “vacuum”, calling attention to essential attributes of urban physis – stone walls, and public places. The representation of cosmopolis in the legally data proved the failure to communicate such thing as a “libertas”, the key characte­ristic of a free city; the Latin term “civitas”, a community of citizens, was adapted in Coman language only through Sogdian analogy of “känd”. The concept “lex”, law, was perceived only through the Jewish approach of “ˈtorə”. The representation of cosmopolis in the sociocultural data did reflect the richness of terms which represented the merchants, traders, bankers, artisans, warriors, and those in the service, education, and entertainment industries; most of them entered the language as a borrowings from Persian and Arabic. The representation of cosmopolis as ethical community explained the rethinking any archaic thought forms of the earlier polytheistic mind moving toward the monotheistic idea; the central concept of Western culture “Deus”, God, was reinterpreted in the most distant Eas­tern cultures as “Tengri” like the designation used earlier for the supreme sky deity of all Asian nomads; the universal theories for both West and East about the four elements and four bodily fluids reflected the relation between the world and man, as macrocosm and microcosm, really integrated citizens of different faiths and languages into the ethical community. This research uses the cognitive science and mental mapping methods. The first allows one to inquire on the terms, ideas, linguistic units, verbal codes in which was treated the cosmopolis in the pre-modern world. The second makes it possible to visualize a distribution of lexical triads according to the degree of positivity / negativity, nearness / distance in transmitting meanings from Latin in Eastern**.

Keywords: “Codex Cumanicus”, Caffa, “Libellus de notitia orbis”, Iohannes de Galonifontibus, lexis of medieval urbanism, representation of the cosmopolis, cognitive science method, mental mapping

For citation: Emanov A.G. Cosmopolis in the pre-modern epoch on the border of the Western and Eastern cultures: multilingualism and limits of transferability (on Caffa’s materials of the 13th–15th centuries). Zolotoordynskoe obozrenie=Golden Horde Review. 2024, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 492–511. https://doi.org/10.22378/2313-6197.2024-12-3.492-511 (In Russian)

Financial Support: The study was carried out within the framework of a project financed by the Russian Science Foundation (grant RSF No. 23-28-01592)

** The article is based on the Report presented at the II International Ural historical Forum “City in the Context of global and regional History: for the 300th Anniversary of Ekaterinburg” (Ekaterinburg, Ural Federal University, 7–9 September 2023).

REFERENCES

  1. Emanov A.G. Heavenly Jerusalem or Babylon: the choice of fate of the medieval Kaffa/Feodosia. St. Petersburg, 2022. (In Russian)
  2. Nadelyaev V.M. Old Turkic dictionary. Leningrad, 1969. (In Russian)
  3. Ponomarev A.L. Territory and population of Genoese Kaffa according to the accounting book – massaria of the treasury for 1381–1382. Prichernomorye v Sredniye veka. Iss. 4, 2000, pp. 317–443. (In Russian)
  4. Sharipov R.G. Spiritual culture of the ancient Turkic civilization. Mentality. Religion. Art. Epos. Ufa, 2015. (In Russian)
  5. [Anonimus]. Literae Craecorum, Caldeorum, Latinorum, Egyptiorum, Hebraicorum, Samaritanorum, Tartarorum, Persarum etc. Multa de astronomia et theologia: [Manuscriptum / Bayerische Staatliche Bibliothek (Cod. Lat. 8950)]. XV saec. Fol. 79r–80v.
  6. Bailey H. Architectural Representation in Medieval Textual und Material Culture. York, 2023.
  7. Balard M. Génes et l’Outre Mer. Vol. 1: Les actes de Caffa du notaire Lamberto di Sambuceto 1289–1290. Paris: La Haye, 1973.
  8. Balard M. La Romanie Génoise (XIIe – début du XVe siècle). Rome, 1978.
  9. Bolumburu A. Construir la ciudad en la Edad Media. Logroño, 2010.
  10. Boucheron P. Entre idéel et materiel. Espace, territoire et legitimation du pouvoir. Paris, 2018.
  11. Bourdin S. La forme de la ville de l’Antiquité à la Renaissance. Rennes, 2015.
  12. Ceruti A. Alberto Alfieri. Ogdoas. Atti della Società Ligure di storia Patria. Genova, 1885. Vol. 17. P. 253–320.
  13. De Vecchie P. La rappresentazione della città nella pittura italiana. Milano, 2004.
  14. Dozi R.P. Glossaire des mots espagnols et portugais dérivés de l’arabe. Leiden, 1869.
  15. Drimba V. Codex Cumanicus: Édition diplomatique avec fac-similés. Bucarest, 2000.
  16. Drüll D. Der Codex Cumanicus: Enstehung und Bedeutung. Stuttgart, 1980.
  17. Du Cange Ch. Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae graecitatis. Lugduni, 1688. Vol. 1–2.
  18. Du Cange Ch. Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis. Niort, 1883–1887. Vol. 1–9.
  19. Evans A. Francesco Balducci Pegolotti. La pratica della mercatura. Cambridge Mass., 1936.
  20. Galonifontibus, Johannes, de. Libellus de notitia orbis: [Manu­scriptum / Universitätsbibliothek, Universität Graz (Hs. 1221)]. Soltaniae, 1405. Fol. 41r–127r.
  21. Hillen M. Thesaurus linguae Latinae. Lipsiae, 1900–2019. Vol. 1–11.
  22. Keith D.L. Mapping Cosmopolis: moral Topographies of the medieval City. Environment and Planning. D: Society and Space. 2004. Vol. 22, pp. 681–698.
  23. Kern A. Johannes, Archiepiscopus Sultaniensis. Libellus de notitia orbis. Archivum fratrum praedicatorum. 1938, vol. 8, pp. 95–123.
  24. Khvalkov E. The Colonies of Genoa in the Black Sea Region: Evolution and Transformation. New York; London, 2018.
  25. Mostert M. Uses of the Written Word in Medieval Towns. Turnhout, 2014.
  26. Oberste J. Repräsentation der mittelalterlichen Stadt. Regensburg, 2008.
  27. Pantella M. Thesaurus Linguae Graecae. Irvine, 2014. [Electronic Resource]. Available to: https://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/lexica.php (access data 1.03.2024)
  28. Vigna A. Statutum Caphe. Atti della Società Ligure di storia Patria. 1879. Vol. 7, pp. 575–680.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexander G. Emanov – Dr. Sci. (History), Professor, Chief Research Fellow of the Laboratory for historical geography and regionalistics, Professor of the Department of history and world politics at the Institute of social sciences and humanities, Tyumen State University (6, Volodarsky Str., Tyumen 625003, Russian Federation); ORCID: 0000-0002-2352-4363, ResearcherID: L-4853-2013, Scopus AuthorID: 57220932675. E-mail: a.g.emanov@utmn.ru

 Received 4.03.2024  Revised 3.06.2024
Accepted 1.07.2024