La tradizione gnomica nelle letterature germaniche medievali

The volume contains essays dedicated to the gnomic tradition in medieval Germanic literatures. After a first contribution that illustrates the main strands of phraseological and paremiological research, the discussions deepen the didactic element by addressing linguistic, literary and socio-cultural issues in different textual genres, some oriented to gnomic contents, such as riddles, legal codes, collections of maxims and proverbs, others of epic, elegiac or mystical character. The studies cover areas of English, German, Dutch and Frisian, in the ancient and middle periods, with contacts and references also to the Nordic area. The numerous gnomic microtexts show a great capacity for diffusion and penetration in different cultural contexts, both circulating individually and inserted in wider texts. Styles and contents recur in all European linguistic areas, highlighting the close link between the Germanic world and the classical and biblical-Christian wisdom tradition.