Lost in Grammar: Explicating a Crucial Clause in Gómez De Castro's Last Will
Abstract
A lengthy debate on the authorship of the Diálogo de la lengua, a 16th-century commentary on the Castilian language, was eventually settled early last century, then confirmed by the discovery of the last will of a humanist, in which the work, together with its author, were mentioned. As if the protracted debate had exhausted scholars, virtually no research has since been done on the manuscript's early history, which has remained largely obscure. In the belief that the will could have more to offer than just confirming the Diálogo's authorship, this study sets out to investigate a crucial clause in it, through systematic grammatical analyses, in order to determine how Gómez de Castro handled the manuscript, and how the clause can help expand current knowledge of the work's early circulation. It is hoped that the findings of the study and the implications thereof will be a valuable contribution to the field.
