The functions of 'e', 'anco' and 'adonqua' in the textual architecture of the "Composizione del mondo" (Composition of the World) by Restoro d’Arezzo

Abstract

Using a textual perspective, this paper offers the analysis of the functions of e, anco, and adonqua in the Composizione del mondo by Restoro d’Arezzo, the earliest original encyclopedia written in an Italo-Romance vernacular. Special attention is given to the different levels of discourse within which e, anco, and adonqua operate, highlighting their multifunctional nature. The findings of the analysis also make it possible to revisit a philological issue concerning the unsystematic distribution of e in the manuscript tradition of the encyclopedia, underlining the value of a textual perspective in the philological reconstruction of medieval texts.